


Postcard

by AcidicVermin9



Category: Asuras Bride (Webcomic), Midnight Poppy Land (Webcomic)
Genre: Angst and Romance, Beach Holidays, Confessions, Drama & Romance, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff, Friendship, Memories, Missing Persons, Other, Painting, Texting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-17 08:21:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 22
Words: 55,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28596864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AcidicVermin9/pseuds/AcidicVermin9
Summary: Poppy follows her heart to an exotic locale, simply because it's on a postcard she finds on her fridge.  Where will it take her on her way there, beyond remembering the most interesting person in her life, one who is currently missing?
Relationships: Erdene/Poppy Wilkes, Gyu | Ronzo/Poppy Wilkes, Jacob/Poppy Wilkes (Midnight Poppyland), Julri/Poppy Wilkes, Quincey Balthuman & Poppy Wilkes, Quincey Balthuman/Poppy Wilkes, Quincey Balthuman/Tora/Poppy Wilkes, Tora/Poppy Wilkes, Vincent Balthuman/Poppy WIlkes
Comments: 77
Kudos: 61





	1. ”It's not true”

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the works "Midnight Poppyland" and “Asura’s Bride” by Lilydusk, who holds all copyright. Find Midnight Poppyland and Asura’s Bride on Webtoons, and she has great stuff on [Patreon](https://www.patreon.com/lilydusk). 
> 
> Note that there are references to AB within MPL already, and some of it is exposition of what could be since we don’t necessarily know all the facts—yet.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poppy's having a tough time, but a postcard stuck to her fridge gets her thinking--she really needs a vacation.

_This postcard…._ Poppy thought to herself.

The card just seemed to magically appear on her fridge door, under a random magnet. With a touristy photo of a luscious, beautiful blue beach, it did not have any message written on it, nor was it addressed to her. Other than basic information on the locale, it was completely blank on the back.

 _Was that here before? Did I just not notice it? It obviously has some reason being here, right? Why else would it be there otherwise?_

After a few minutes of staring at it, she began to have an unexplained, nagging sense that it had more significance than not, especially given her life at the moment. She suddenly decided what she was going to do, _had_ to do, had to go _there_. Before she over-thought it or chickened out, she sent Quincey a quick text right away, asking if he knew a good travel agent. 

She sighed and admitted, _I don’t think I could have made it this far if it weren’t for the work I’ve been doing with Quincey._

Working with him had been one of the most interesting (and professionally speaking, perfect) things that happened to her in the past year, heck especially the past 9 months—he has been a lifeline. Well, there is that and a certain 6 foot something black haired tiger, too. One who she is desperately missing.

It was a bit exhilarating, deciding to do this, on a completely utter whim, deciding to travel to the exotic, beautiful locale on the card. Maybe that’s why it was on her fridge--she needs a vacation, right? To use a word she almost never does? _F*ck it_. What did she have to lose? She felt she had already lost so much in her life, the hell with it. 

Everything had happened so fast with Tora and then Quincey, but the many long weeks since that one day had been rough. Really fudging rough for Poppy. She did a lot for Gil and Giant Goldfish Publishing, of course, especially during some of the worst emotional wrenching times since her father died, first when Julri cheated on her, when she worked so hard to connect with Mr. Lam, and finally making the connection with Quincey, and by proxy, Tora, again. But now there was _this_. This not knowing. _When something nice comes into your life… You never want it to end._ she thought to herself back when Tora walked away the first time. _Indeed_.

 _PING_. A return text from Quincey appeared: _“Sure, Miss Editor. I’ll text u the info. If you want, I can also set u up with a Clan jet. Anyways, thinking of you today, as usual. How r u?”_

 _Bless you, Quincey_ , she told herself. She texted back a simple reply: _“Doing OK. I will be in touch.”_

She didn’t add this to her text but thought of asking him later, _hey maybe going on a tropical getaway—wanna come?_ But she simply couldn’t engage in any in-depth personal conversations at that moment, as she began falling back into memories that simply hurt too much. Memories that she is still trying to cope with.

++++++++++++++++++

**_Day One: Wednesday_ **

Tora always told her that in his line of work, things could happen rapidly, very bad things, at that. There was so much he couldn’t tell her, wouldn’t tell her, and she didn’t want to know, honestly. Poppy often dismissed these theories of his, that she was in danger just by being near him, let alone having any sort of open relationship, or that he wasn’t good enough, and on and on. She tried to communicate to him what she thought, more times than she could count, that he is a good man who is forced to do bad things. Granted he did _very_ bad things, things she didn’t fully know about (or need to know), but the way he treated her was so contrary to his “thug life.” Just like she told him before—he seems just like a regular guy when he’s with her.

Even though she did put the brakes on any sort of relationship after their joint birthday party at “Fallen Angel” ( _God, he was so hurt_ ), she didn't exactly rule anything totally out either. In fact, they actually managed to form—and became pretty steady in—their own special quasi-relationship, after a long period of time. And really nothing bad had happened, to her at least, since then. But still, she had to keep telling him that she had no need to know any more details about the Clan than she already did. Plus there were many times he essentially shut down, giving her his cryptic quips, getting all grumbly and mumbly. "Ya not safe"; "I can’t tell you about that sweetheart"; or "Ya better off not knowing me." Her eye rolling during these moments were considerable, and each and every time he closed himself off, or insisted on the crazy things he did to keep her safe, she simply acted out her feisty hamster routine to diffuse the tension. It was always equal parts exasperating and touching.

Quincey and Gyu knew about their relationship, of course, and they had done a tremendous amount of work to help keep as much of their relationship on the “down-low”—despite Quincey’s efforts to be their eternal wing man (a silly wing man at that). By sheer luck, no one in the Clan had cared about her, nor the relationship, or even her importance to Tora, so far. Some of Tora’s men were a bit suspicious, even after their drunken admission to Poppy at the club. They told her that Tora is gay ( _yeah, dudes, I don’t think so_ ), and she had to think quickly before she gave it all away. Gosh her face had been so red! She is simply known as Quincey’s "Ms. Editor" or just Quincey's editor. If she were even seen anywhere with Tora, it was by virtue of her editing work with Quincey. She had consistently been portrayed as a de facto extension of Quincey, and it had been serving them all well. 

But it was after a quiet night, with the two of them hiding away in her micro apartment while watching Netflix on her tiny laptop after dinner, that Tora’s clan ringtone went off like an unwelcome clarion bell. Poppy was disappointed that their increasingly intimate and secret time was cut short, again, but that’s the way it had always happened.

He sighed, and texted his contact back right away; he gave her his usual schtick, “Sorry, sweetheart, duty calls.”

He lightly pinched her cheeks and ran towards the door, putting his shoes on. She shouted to him her own usual response whenever this would happen: “Shoot me a text when you are home safe.”

He gave her a soft smile and that ridiculously sweet two-fingered “kiss, kiss” gesture that always made her blush, as he shut the door quietly behind him. 

Since she was immensely tired after the long work week, she fell asleep, with _The Witcher_ still streaming on the laptop screen.

++++++++++++++++++

**_Day Two: Thursday_**

__

__

The first several times he had to run out like that to do Vincent’s bidding, she told him, no matter what time he got back, text her to let her know he was home safe. To date, he had always texted her, even if it were 4 am or even later than that. One time it was at 8 am! Poor guy!

Poppy suddenly startled herself awake, realizing she had fallen asleep in the living room. Her laptop screen was dark and the sky outside her balcony doors bright. She stretched and rubbed her eyes. Of course, she must have missed the ding of her phone, and expected to open it and find a quick text, telling her he was home. But there wasn’t one. Once in awhile there was a bit of a delay, so she didn't really feel worried.

_Hmmm…. Must have been a bad night. He must be home asleep; he’ll just text me when he’s awake._

She got up off the floor and noticed the time, realizing she better get her butt moving, or she’d miss her bus and be seriously late for work. She ran off to take a shower and start her day.

++++++++++++++++++

After a fun-filled lunch in the conference room, chatting with Erdene and Jacob about some of the ridiculous shit Quincey wrote about in his latest short story, it was already one o’clock. There was still no text from Tora. 

_Really, I’m just paranoid. It’s no big deal. He’ll text me when he can. I gotta trust him a little, right?_ Poppy admitted to herself. But there simply was a small part of her that a had a sense of dread, and so she felt so unsettled. But she quickly dismissed this feeling, and got back to work. Quincey needed to edit some of his writing that really didn’t flow well, and frankly, was a bit out there, even for him. When she was finished with her suggested edits, she gave Quincey a call. She knew he’d be in the office on Monday to work with them, but felt she had to explain first.

 _“Hey Quince, it’s me,”_ Poppy chirped as Quincey picked up.

 _“Heeelllooo, Miss Editor, how are you this fine morning? Had a long night, huh? Been keeping a tiger by the tail?"_ Quincey was always so brutally honest.

Poppy laughed, but admitted, _“Ha, ha, very funny. Our first night together in a while, for sure, but it got cut short actually.”_

_“Really? I haven’t heard from him yet today, and I called to remind him I need him for this afternoon. All I get is his frigging stupid voice to leave a message--'SPEAK'"_

She sniggered at first, _so like him isn’t it._

But then Poppy's unnerving sense of unease prickled in her head again, and she gulped. Before responding, she turned around to make sure she was alone at her desk. 

_“You can’t reach him? He usually texts me, you know, after he does his 'mafia' schtick, to let me know he’s home. But I got nothing this time. At least not yet. Should I be worried??”_

_“Oh, Pops, I wouldn’t worry. Maybe he is simply still sleeping, or his phone is dead or broken. You know that man goes through cell phones like tissue paper.”_

Quincey spoke to her with a level head, and she appreciated that—she knew he was trying to calm her down and not worry her any more than necessary. He’s much more familiar with Clan stuff than she is, but that sense of apprehension wasn’t going away. Despite it, she knew had to get back to the business at hand. 

_“Okay, Quince, I won’t worry, and I know you’ll be here Monday. Anyways, I wanted to discuss some of what I’ve read before you come in, simply because I don’t want to delay in sharing these ideas. I’m afraid I’ll forget, and I want to be honest, brutally so. Is that OK?”_

_“Of course, honey. Let’s chat.”_

They talked for about a half hour more, but by the time she hung up, Poppy was really getting upset. Her hands were sweaty, and she took several deep breaths. 

_It will be OK. It will be OK. Everything is fine. Tora is fine._ She repeated this over and over until it was time to go home. 

In hindsight, she wished she could have believed that, she really did.


	2. “Tell me I've been lied to”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first part of Poppy’s journey starts close to home, as she visits the Fallen Angel club, and also starts to remember many things that have happened to her over the past year.
> 
> Quincey and Gyu don’t suspect any wrongdoing—yet.

**_Day Two: Thursday_ **

Quincey was pissed. _Where the hell is he? I mean seriously._ Getting out his phone, he starts a new text thread with Tora:

YM Quincey: @BB Tora >> _honey, where are you? I’m guessing Dad is running you ragged again? Pops is worried about you Anyways, drop her a line will you? Come by when you get this message k?_

After an hour, no response. Quincey sends another message.

YM Quincey: @BB Tora >> _okay, I already told you this morning—I need you for a reception this afternoon. Where are you?!_

Yet another hour goes by. No response. 

YM Quincey: @BB Tora >> _since you’re ignoring me you big meanie, I’m gonna text Gyu for a back up. And pls text Ms Editor? She’s freaking out a bit_

Quincey switches to a new thread with Gyu:

YM Quincey: @Gyu >> _honey I can’t get a response from BB has he texted u? Anyways I have a thing this afternoon so who is on deck as my pseudo Tora?_

Gyu, ever prompt, texts him right back:

Gyu: @YM Quincey >> _bro I have not connected with BB yet today. Smithy can be your backup. Text him ASAP so he can pick u up_

YM Quincey: @Gyu > _thanks booboo If BB shows up tell him to text Pops she is worried about him_

++++++++++++++++++

**_Day Four: Saturday_ **

Poppy still felt so unsettled. Another day went by, and it was now Saturday morning, and _still_ no word from him. She hesitated contacting Quincey, as she didn’t want to bother him. _I’m just overreacting. He’s busy. He’s always told me that everything is at the whim of Vincent._ She takes several deep breaths in an effort to calm down. 

It was a pleasant, sunny morning, so Poppy decided to go to the roof of her apartment building and paint. _That always relaxes me._ She pulled out a blank canvas, the easel, her monkey backpack containing paints and brushes, and snacks, and heads up the stairs.

She sets everything up, staring out onto the river for a moment, thinking of what she could possibly paint that day, given her nerves. She began thinking about all the different times she spent with Tora, and probably top on her list was one of the more recent, more colorful times: the joint birthday party. She is also particularly fascinated with the story of Ishrikhara and the “Oath of the Fallen.” _That’s it--I’ll do my own portrait of the ultimate Fallen Angel!_ She pulled out her blue and white paint tubes and got to work.

Within a few hours, she had a good likeness on her canvas. It was a challenge to paint how glassy and reflective the statue really was, but had managed quite well thus far. Up until she stopped, the painting was such a welcome distraction. But she couldn’t help but reminisce.

After not-so-baby-thug Quincey revealed himself as mafia progeny of not just the Balthuman Clan, but another? of _two_ families? ( _yeah, we are so gonna talk about that soon_ ), her head was spinning for the rest of that week. Still, she can’t believe she decided to go ahead with the birthday thing, especially after Tora pretty much ignored her for several days. 

As she stared at her painting, she sighed ( _doing way too much of that today_ ). She felt so daring that night, wearing that dress to the party (definitely skimpy for her but soooo freeing), and of course the shoes, even if they hurt her feet. She was puzzled at first as to why Quincey told her to wear them, but then again, she realized why now—Quincey, the eternal wing man. She also recalled the conversation with Erdene, about Tora, as hot as he is, of course, but as him being technically a non-issue at the time, and about herself. She felt particularly proud about how she told Dene she simply had to spend some time alone first, to take care of herself, even before she knew how much Tora is actually interested in her. She admitted he treated her well, that night and in general, but wondered why--she still had (and still does sometimes) so much self-doubt thanks to Julri’s utter shit. She smiled, as she thought about how Tora is still pretty shy about it, even after prodding and poking and some discussion with him—never thought she could get the gruff man to blush, but she did. She learns more about him everyday. 

Sure, Tora is gorgeous and always flirts with her. She enjoys the repartee but always questioned his motives. She simply did not think she had a snowball’s chance in hell of being of any interest to such a good looking guy, really. The creeper she remained, at least for a while. Even after the tension filled moments after her admission and Tora’s reaction that night, he was touched when she asked if it was okay to wear his ring around her neck. Admitting her inner scars and not wanting to rush into another relationship so soon after Julri’s humiliating betrayal was simply necessary, as she still has many nagging doubts. _I’m working on it. Guess I’m a Fallen Angel of a kind, too._

There is a part of her, even as she stood there on the roof right then, both flattered and flabbergasted to have learned he really wanted to be with her, and not just in a physical relationship either. If that hadn’t been so unclear to her, then, maybe she would have done things differently, but then again, the timing was a bit off. And that piggyback ride at the end of the night? _Well…. I won’t kiss and tell_ she giggled to herself. In the end, they eventually started spending more time getting to know each other, all while she also took some time to concentrate on herself. And now, he always gave her the business, teasing her incessantly when he and Quincey came into Giant Goldfish. _That man..._

Going back to the painting, Poppy then thought about the plaque on the statue, containing the oath. She knew she had to go downstairs and look up the old legends again online. She simply loved the history of Narin City and the whole region, especially the royal family. 

She recited the oath from memory: ‘We the Fallen hereby declare that we bow to none but our own and as others rise so we shall fall till it’s time to reclaim our throne. Glory be to pain. Glory be to shame.”

She also recalled how the “Fallen Angel” was referred to, as Protector of the Ones who’ve slipped beneath the cracks. So while Ishrikhara is not technically not an angel, he’s not a demon either. Definitely a celestial being between worlds, really. _How apt._

Poppy had a thought and pulled out her phone, texting Quincey:

Poppy: @Quincey >> _hey any chance I can visit the Fallen Angel club again, maybe when it’s empty? I’m doing a painting of the statue and want to look at it with my own eyes again. I also need a trip down memory lane._

Quincey: @MsEditor >> _pretty sure sugar pops. Let me contact my friend. You could probably come tomorrow morning? I’ll confirm and let you know. Xoxo_

Within 20 minutes, Quincey texted her back:

Quincey: @MsEditor >> _it’s a go and I’m going w you meet me at my apt at 10 am tomorrow morning and we will go together_

Poppy: @Quincey >> _thanks so much. See u then ttfn_

With the sun now setting, and Poppy gathered her stuff and headed downstairs to make dinner. She was excited for her jaunt with Quincey.

++++++++++++++++++

It was early evening, and Quincey was getting ready for a date when he heard his phone ding with a new text.

Gyu: @YM Quincey >> _any word from BB?_

YM Quincey: @Gyu >> _not a peep. U know anything he's got going on right now?_

Gyu: @YM Quincey >> _not at all, in fact he was going to check in on this one project I’d been doing for him but he's not replying to me either_

YM Quincey: @Gyu >> _I wonder if i should ask Dad, but that always puts him in a snit. Thoughts?_

Gyu: @YM Quincey: >> _ha I would not poke the bear unless necessary you know how shit goes probably doing more of the same ole same ole for ya old man but if u hear from him shoot me a line ya?_

YM Quincey: @Gyu >> _k booboo more later gotta hot date_

Quincey locks his phone and puts it down, going back to work on his hair. _Hot stuff coming through!_

++++++++++++++++++

**_Day Five: Sunday_ **

Poppy showed up at Quincey’s door at 10 am sharp. As soon as she walked through the door, she found Quincey and another clan guy—alas not Tora—were in the kitchen. 

“Ms. Editor! So good to see you again, honey! Let’s go!”

All three of them left, making their way to Quincey’s gaudy yellow sports car. Poppy didn’t have the heart to ask about Tora, even though she was deeply disappointed he wasn’t there. 

They arrived at the club, and went down the stairs. The place is eerie without anyone in it. Their footsteps echoed as they moved into the main part of the club, and Poppy knew exactly what she wanted to do—get a real close look at that statue again. 

Standing there, she simply revelled in how beautiful it is—just so breathtaking. Then, a sudden image from that night of Tora’s face with his big amber eyes with an uncharacteristic smile loomed in her mind, and she felt so sad. A tear ran down her face, despite putting on her best face for Quincey.

Quincey’s voice broke her out of her reverie: “Honey, are you okay?”

“Yeah, Quince, just a little weepy for some reason.” She wouldn’t dare admit how upset she is, but she had to ask: “Have you heard from him yet? I just don’t have any idea how long his little escapades usually take, not that I want to know, mind you.”

“Oh, well, it varies, honey. I can’t really say. He’ll be in touch soon, I’m sure. He may not be verbose, but that man always makes his presence known, at least to me.”

“You’re right. Anyways, do you think I could take some pictures of the statue? I’m not going to put them on social media or anything, I just want a reference for my painting.”

“I don’t see why not. You will have to let me see the finished product.”

“Great, thanks!”

Poppy pulled out her phone and took several pictures from all different angles, hoping that they would help her more adeptly paint the glassy transparency of it that frankly made it beautiful. 

“All set. Thank you, Quincey, for arranging this. Are we all set for tomorrow? You’ll be at Giant Goldfish for more beta reading?”

“Of course, honey! Smithy and I will be there about 11, and then I’ll take the whole gang out for lunch at Gudruns! Now, shall we drop you off at home?”

“Yes, thank you.”

_No Tora, again? Fudge, where the hell is the man?_

++++++++++++++++++

After holding her phone up, looking at the many pictures she took of the Ishrikhara statue, she added a bit more contrast and subtle highlights in different spots all over the canvas, and she had to say that the finished product came out to be really quite stunning. She decided then and there she’s going to give it to Quincey, for his help in getting access to the statute, but mostly for keeping her occupied the last several days. _Thank you, Quincey. The work we do keeps me sane!_

She left the canvas to dry in front of the open balcony door. She then made herself a cup of green tea, then sat down, opening her laptop to do a search on Narin City, the royal family, and the statue. The most interesting part of her research emerged as she was reading about the ancient king who united the region, King Ulaan, also known as King Asura. He had quite the reputation as Great Warrior King of the North, and he was also called the “Northern Demon Asura.” 

There was a small thumbnail in the search results, and she clicked on it simply out of curiosity and when the link opened, she was stunned. It displayed a portrait of Ulaan and his queen, Yuwa, and he’s the spitting image of Tora, except he had red eyes, not amber ones, and beautiful tattoos of flowers at his neck. _Holy shi...t...ake mushrooms! Is he descended from royalty??_ The picture was nested within a blog post about the royal family, so she started to read. After she finished, she went back to her search results, she kept clicking on links and took a deep dive. _This is so much more information than I found on that link about the Balthumans sending King Tsagaan into exile!_ She noticed a book on the royal family’s history and lineage that she could order online, and promptly did so.

The last link she read before going to bed was about the Okuri Inu, demonic dog spirits that were allegedly linked with Asura and Ishrikhara. _Fascinating stuff!_ Since she had to work the next day, she logged off, but with great reluctance. She got into bed, turned off the lights, thinking of King Ulaan’s portrait, but as she fell asleep, the image of Ulaan’s face turned into _his_ face—a regal one with amber eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all, note any reference to plot points from either story are my own interpretations. I may tweak chapters periodically, and don’t yet have a sense of how many chapters this will contain. Thanks for reading!


	3. “Cryin' isn't like you”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poppy continues to go down memory lane during her journey, but still no word from the Tiger. Where the fudge is the man?!

By morning, Quincey still had not connected with Tora, so rather than pester him with yet another text or phone call, he made an executive decision. He pulled out his phone, and began a text thread with Smithy:

YM Quincey: @Smithy >> _hey Smitty no BBro again today so you are on deck for bodyguard duty in fact unless I tell you otherwise u will stay on guard duty w me k?_

Smithy @YM Quincey >> _you got it and whats the deal with BBro?_ _I texted him a few times myself n got nuthin_

 _Best keep this as succinct and honest as possible even if this is a Clan guy,_ thought Quincey.

YM Quincey: @Smithy >> _when i know u will know_

Quincey closed this text thread and started a new one with Gyu:

YM Quincey: @Gyu >> _booboo no word from Tora whatevs told Smithy he’s with me until we know otherwise k?_

Gyu: @YM Quincey >> _k bro should i find out where BB is?_

YM Quncey: @Gyu >> _not yet give BB some space and i know Pops is upset but she doesn’t really know bout thug life you know Don’t know if she’ll ask you but don’t give her any info other than what she needs to know about, dig? No Clan shit. signing off for now honey any news on your end def let me know_

+++++++++++++++++

**_Day Six: the following Monday_ **

At about 11:15 am the next day, Quincey and Smithy waltz into Giant Goldfish Publishing.

“Hello my lovelies, let’s get started. And did Sugar Pops tell you? I’m taking you all to lunch this afternoon!”

Erdene laughs, with a wry look on her face: “Yeah, she did. So, where’s the toxic ex-beta reader, today, Quince?” 

Looking back to the door over Quincey’s shoulder, she expected Tora to work through the door at any moment. She just couldn’t help teasing Tora whenever she could. That hot “majestic f*ckable stallion” is so obvious in his interest in Poppy, so she just has to unsettle him whenever she could. It is just too much fun.

Quincey glared at Erdene after she said this, but she didn’t know why. _Huh?_

Poppy noticed the face Quincey made at Erdene, and she winced. _Oh crap. Still not around? Geesh!_

“Sorry, Dene Bean, he is not around this morning. Old Smithy is filling in today, so be nice!”

After this exchange, Poppy walked back into the conference room and began getting ready for their beta reading and editing session.

As soon as Poppy was out of ear shot, he pulled Erdene aside, hissing at her, “Don’t bring him up! He has not been in touch the past several days, and, well, she’s upset about it.”

“So where is he?”

“Well, I don’t know, and I haven’t heard from him, either, but that’s not uncommon. The bodyguard stuff for me is just one thing he does. He works in other...private security, you know. But for whatever reason, it’s upsetting Ms. Editor, so I’m trying not to bring him up if I can’t help it.”

“Ah, gotcha. So you’re not worried? This is normal for him?”

“I wouldn’t say normal, but not unheard of. One time he was incommunicado for a week and a half, honestly, the shit my da—“ Quincey had to stop himself from blurting out mafia stuff—beyond TMI. _When is life in the Clan_ **_ever_ ** _normal?!?_

“But anyways, ix-nay on mentioning Tora-nay, for now, k?”

“Okay, Quincess,” Dene said with a smirk. 

They both saunter back towards the conference room to get started.

+++++++++++++++++

After a good two hours of work, they poured out of the conference room, ready for a break. Working with Quincey is always a trip, no different than any other time. The working relationship between them really took off after Poppy’s efforts, starting with the Lam project, the first draft nearly finished, a discussion of some new QB novels, and, just that day, the decision to publish a new Volume 2 of Secret Garden stories. Poppy had hopes to extend his contract beyond what they agreed, after so much enthusiasm from Quincey.

“Meet you at Gudruns in 30, people!” yelled Quincey, as he and Smithy promptly walked out the door. Poppy honestly didn’t want to go there, but deferred to Quincey, of course, since he’s buying. _Gosh, I’ve never gone back to Gudruns since that awful night!_

She immediately thought of Cordelia, wondering what she’s up to these days. She really liked Cordelia, so Poppy decided to ask Quincey when she had a moment. 

The three Giant Goldfish employees all piled into Erdene’s vehicle for the short drive to Gudruns (Gil, as ever, is MIA). Poppy couldn’t help but reflect back on the dinner she had there with Quincey, and while mostly awful, it changed the course of Giant Goldfish and her own life immensely. 

Meeting Cordelia was one highlight of the night, for sure, and she was floored that Quincey didn’t bat an eye, signing the contract she wrote up. Ever the optimist, she thought it was a long shot, a really REALLY long one. But the stuff with Tora? Pfft. What a jerk he was that night, yelling at her like that. The nerve! But him being sick, the confession about the mafia, and even how she wasn’t so sure what he would do when he found out about her working with Quincey? What a heavy load of horse doody she dealt with that night. 

She recalled their shouting match, and how angry she felt at him for belittling her work. _And calling me Shorty? The nerve!_

She was of course a little bit emotional after their picnic at Regina Peak at the time this all happened, so she knew anything to do with Quincey would be difficult, especially getting him to even look at a contract, let alone sign one. She was simply determined to go through with it, Tora be damned. 

She did her very best to ignore him that night after his initial outburst—plus she did NOT expect him to be there. And she felt he was being a tad bit unreasonable, and heck the dude flat out told her she’d never see him again, just the night before. Then the asshat collapsed? Unreal. She knew more than likely that Quincey might share the story about their connection and the dinner with her co-workers shortly. _Sigh._

“Pops, you coming?” said Jacob. They had just pulled into the parking lot, and had been waiting for her to get out of the car.

“Yeah, sorry, was a bit distracted there for a moment.”

They went inside to look for Quincey.

+++++++++++++++++

Gyu sat in the guard booth at Poppy’s complex in front of his laptop.

_Big bro, what is going on? You have never been radio silent when we have a scheduled check in before. Hmmm…_

He opened his special tracking software to look up Tora’s SIM card, hoping he’d get a ping. Nothing. And nothing on his burner either. This doesn’t really mean anything, since his battery could be dead and who knows what Vincent has him doing. The burner is more than likely turned off, as Tora only used it for certain things.

_Well, that’s not very helpful._

He rarely performs this type of tracking, since his program is far from any simple “track my phone” type of thing (and it’s super illegal), but the situation—Big Bro out of touch for almost a full week—had been nagging at his sensibilities since first thing that morning. Missing a check in, that had his senses reeling a bit. 

There are no guarantees in the Clan of course, but he was getting a smite bit antsy. He knows Big Bro has a love-hate thing about most tech, given the number of phones he’s destroyed or lost, so there is simply a chance that’s just what happened—or maybe even a dead battery. He then remembered Clan protocol, so unless Vincent or one of the other lieutenants asked him or commented, he wouldn’t worry any more. _Just a fluke...right?_

He closed out the tracking program, and got back to the task he had to do for the building super. 

_Hope you’re okay, Big bro._

+++++++++++++++++

They all ordered their drinks and food, and sat waiting for it to arrive at their table. 

There was some light conversation, but then, just as Poppy dreaded, Quincey had to share the story.

“OK, did Ms. Editor tell you about how she got me to sign my contract? It happened right here in this restaurant!”

Erdene knew this of course, but Jacob, ever clueless, did not. “Really? Tell us all about it!”

“Well, Poppylan was a tenacious little devil that night. I mean, in case you didn’t know, I had met her just a few days before, we were introduced by a mutual friend…” Quincey winked at Poppy, and then continued, “and she had my number, and well, Mr. Lam-kins simply _had_ to have me for his little project. Long story short, she contacted me, I then invited her to dinner, and then I signed on right then and there! BAM! All good, all around, right Sugar Pops?”

Poppy had to work really hard not to roll her eyes too much. That was about 1/10th of the truth, but she just gave a wan smile and replied, “That’s right, Quince. Feisty lil hamster editor! Now we’re stuck with you.”

“Oh stop! You know you love me! You all do, yes?” Quincey was just in fine form. 

Poppy remembered then how Quincey spewed that mouthful of wine right in her face, after Tora’s confession about being in the mafia. _What a memory…. UGH. You can’t make this stuff up!_

She also recalled Tora collapsing and then she and Quincey taking him home. The honest conversation in the car with Quincey was one that she is still reeling from, that he would honor the contract, even after all the tomfoolery of that night, and she yet again thanked her lucky stars that it happened. _What would I have done if you said no? I’d be finished, that’s what._

Just then, their food arrived, and the conversation moved on. Poppy took a big gulp of water, and started to eat.

+++++++++++++++++

The late lunch was finally over, but Poppy had plenty more work to do, so Erdene dropped her back off at Giant Goldfish. Jacob had somewhere to be, so he left directly from the restaurant. 

“Pops, please don’t stay too late by yourself, you know that’s not safe.”

“I know, Dene, I just need to clean up my desk, so I can have a fresh start in the morning. I won’t stay long. I’ll clock off close to our usual quitting time. Then I’ll get an Uber when I’m done, and go straight home.”

“OK--if you want to come over, I’m more than happy to have you, we can have a slumber party—just kidding.”

“Thanks, Dene. But it’s been a long day, and I’ll probably just go to bed early. And it’s a weeknight, so I’ll see you tomorrow!”

Dene wanted to ask her about Tora, but given the conversation earlier in the day with Quincey, she decided against it. She had no idea if it was a problem or not, but she didn’t want to stress Poppy out unnecessarily, so she kept quiet, saying nothing.

“Night, Pops!” and drove off.

Poppy went back into the office, sat at her desk, and sighed. _Time for another to-do list I think_. She spent half an hour tidying her desk, and then started a new list in her usual sparkly striped notebook, which already had several pink sticky notes sticking out the top. As she finished, she pulled out her phone and requested an Uber. Then she opened a text thread with Quincey:

MsEditor: @Quincey >> _Hey Quincey, thanks for lunch today. It sure was a trip down memory lane. I wanted to ask, have you talked with Cordelia lately?_

Quincey: @MsEditor >> _you are very welcome SP! Yes, that night with the Tiger sure was something. Anyways, I haven’t talked with Cordy since then. I only see her when I see her._

MsEditor: @Quincey >> _oh, that’s too bad. I was thinking, though, of painting her portrait. So do you have any pictures by chance? It always helps to have a reference. If you don’t, no big deal._

Quincey: @MsEditor >> _i don’t think i do. But I will look. You’re so talented Sugar P!! And how did the pic of the fallen angel come out? I’d love to see it. BTW would like to have some time 1-on-1 w you to discuss the Lam stuff at my place. What day and time good 4 u?_

MsEditor: @Quincey >> _if you could look, would appreciate it. I will check my schedule but since Gil out of town again my schedule is technically wide open—you name day and time and I’ll be there. So happy that we are so close to completion with the first draft for Mr. Lam_

Quincey: @MsEditor >> _let’s plan on Thursday afternoon, say 2? K?_

MsEditor: @Quincey >> _its in my calendar! Will bring the portrait to show you_

Smiling to herself, she knew he didn’t know that she was actually going to gift him with it, and she hoped he will love it as much as she does. She walked down the stairs to the front entrance.

She paused her texting for a moment, but ever since Quincey’s comment this morning, she was beyond curious, so she had to ask yet again. Poppy was now downstairs outside of Giant Goldfish, waiting for her Uber, set to arrive in just a few minutes. 

MsEditor: @Quincey >> _have you heard from him_

Quincey read this last message from her and cringed. He had to think for a moment on how he can possibly respond when he had no idea what to say nor where he really was. _Dammit, I don’t know. I really don’t. I’m not his keeper, and for some reason, Pops is really bothered by it._ He ended up telling her the truth, but didn’t offer any other exposition that might make her more upset. This is simply Clan life, and he knew Tora did not want her knowing any more details than she already did. So he was both honest and succinct as he could be.

Quincey: @MsEditor >> _no_

Poppy read his response, and it made her more upset than she cared to admit. She knew she was probably taking it all way too personally, but that dread, that awful nagging fear gripped her again. As her Uber pulled up, she decided not to reply.

That thought came back to her— _When something nice comes into your life… Did something change? Did he not want to see her any more? Is this yet another person taken away from me? Get a grips, Poppylan, it hasn’t been that long. You’ve gone longer without contact with him before, it’s no big deal. I just need to get my stuff together and deal with it. He’s in the mafia. He has to do...things. It’s not a guarantee._

Finally she had to stop all the petty rationalizations bombarding her brain, as her Uber finally pulled up outside her apartment building. She thanked the driver, got out, and went up the stairs to her door, pulling out her keys. _Time for some dinner and Netflix tonight, for sure._

She heated up some leftovers, and then sat down with her food in her lap. She opened Netflix and chose one of her all time favorites, one that she knew would calm her down, _The Princess Bride_. As she watched it, she sighed, since she always got a bit over-emotional about Westley and his way of declaring his love for Buttercup, “ _As you wish.”_

She wistfully wondered about Tora, and his own quirks—calling her Bobby, pinching her cheeks, the not-so-subtle flirting, and that little hand gesture of his. She couldn’t say it was him doing the same thing as Westley, but she also couldn’t help but wonder just a little bit, that perhaps those were all his own way to express his affection. _Could it be he’s expressing... love? Really, it’s absurd, I mean, come on, Pops._ She sniggered, and went back to watching the film. 

She sighed (she was doing that way too much for fudging sake), and while she mostly dismissed it as utter hogwash, she realized maybe it was time to start thinking about her own feelings. _I don't know, I made a promise to myself to take care of myself and spend some time alone...so has it been long enough_? She realized right then and there, maybe it was time. Even if it had only been a few days since she last saw him, she really missed him and was kind of shocked at the intensity of her emotions.

 _What I wouldn’t give to have him pinch my cheeks right now_ , she mused, while slowly rubbing her face, as the movie credits scrolled over her laptop screen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTE: i went back and fixed a few errors in the first two chapters, mainly temporal ones. I wanted to be sure to be consistent with the days that will be recounted, but keep in mind I don’t know if I can possibly have entries for each and every day for 9 months. I will keep the number of chapters open, for now, to keep options open for an end point. Thanks for reading!


	4. “What the hell did I do?”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The days tick by, and there are more memories for Poppy to deal with, but still no Tiger.
> 
> Things get more hairy, as Vincent makes an appearance, making demands, naming names, and threatening Tora, even if he’s nowhere to be found.

**Day Nine - Thursday**

Poppy was sitting at her desk at Giant Goldfish, when she heard her phone ping with a new text alert. For a moment, she got excited— _FINALLY_.

How disappointed she was to see it was a text from Quincey. _Ah, fudge!_

Quincey: @MsEditor >> _morning Ms. Editor, I’ll be sending Smithy by at 1:30ish to pick u up and bring you over K?_

MsEditor: @Quincey >> _k thanx Q_

She was so agitated, so it was all she could do to text even that much of a reply. She was going to have a little chat with Quincey this afternoon about all of it. She wants answers, and hopefully he can give her some, well at least SOMETHING. This mafia garbage infuriated her to no end, but that’s life, at least at the moment. 

It was now nine days—NINE days since she last saw or heard from Tora, and she was baffled. She was tidying up her desk, when a text from an unknown number appeared. That frightened her a bit. _Who is THIS?_

She opened it, and discovered it was only Smithy, telling her he was out front. She texted him back, saying she’d be right down. She grabbed the portrait of Ishrikhara wrapped in brown paper, sitting next to her desk, then put her bag over her shoulder.

“Dene, Jacob, I’m leaving to work at Quinceys. See you tomorrow.”

They yelled their goodbyes back to her, and she walked out.

+++++++++++++++++

Gyu was just waking up after a few hours sleep--yet another long shift at Clark’s had him dog tired--when his phone went ping. It was a message from an unknown number. This almost never happened.

He opened it, and chills instantly went down his spine.

Unknown number: >> _Mr. Gyu, this is Vincent Balthuman. I need to talk to you. Be in my office within the hour. Discuss this with no one. Do not be late._

Gyu was instantly much more awake and alert. _Oh, f*ck._

Gyu: Unknown number >> _yes sir on my way_

He closed that thread, and practically hyperventilating, he opened a new one, sending a text to Quincey.

Gyu: @YM Quincey >> _yo, bro, I just got a text from Vincent!!! He has never contacted me EVER wtf man??? anyways he wants me in his office within the hour but didn’t say why. Telling you just in case._

YM Quincey: @Gyu >> _wow don’t know what to say boo boo you can’t say no to him, so go let me know what happens later k? Pops is going to be here any minute, so I may not be able to text or call u for awhile. More later_

Gyu quickly got dressed, packed up his laptop, and sped out the door.

+++++++++++++++++

The car ride over to Quinceys was awkward. Poppy really didn’t know Smithy or anything about him, and certainly didn’t feel like chatting him up either, at least not at the moment. Actually, she started to remember all the interactions with Tora while riding in his car. _Crap,_ **_everything_ ** _reminds me of HIM right now. Get a grip, Pops!_ They arrived at Quincey’s in no time flat. _Whew!_

As she and Smithy walked through his front door, Quincey was texting on his phone. He noticed them and put the phone away, and ever his ebullient self, greeted her with his usual bodacious greeting, giving her a huge hug. 

“Heeelllooooo Ms. Editor! How are you this fine afternoon?”

“I’m good, Quincey.” She giggled slightly. “Oh, and this is for you. I want you to have it.” She handed over the paper-wrapped portrait to him.

“Pour _moi?_ Oh Sugar Pops, are you serious?”

Quincey walked into his kitchen, pulled a knife out a drawer, cutting the string off. Removing the brown paper, the blue-white angelic image was revealed, and Quincey gasped at how beautiful it was.

“Poppylan! This is soo gorgeous! But I can’t possibly accept this!”

“No, no, Quincey. This is a thank you present. I… I…” she was stumbling over her words suddenly, and her voice started wavering a bit, “I wanted to thank you for everything you’ve done for me. I don’t know what I would do if you hadn’t signed that contract.”

Poppy was getting a little weepy, and she didn’t mean to. _Dammit._

“Oh, honey,” Quincey pulled her back into his arms for another one of his warm hugs, rubbing her back. Poppy sniffed a bit, trying to get her tears under control.

“Seriously, honey, if you ever want to do an art show, you have some mad talent. I have a friend with an art gallery. I can hook you up in a hot minute. People need to know how talented you are!”

Poppy smiled, “Thanks, but I don’t have enough paintings to do that, but I’ll consider it in the future maybe. For now, please--I want you to keep this one. Okay?”

“Oh, how sweet! Now, let’s sit down and get started. Do you want something to drink? Tea, coffee, juice...whiskey?” Quincey smirked at that. He made a considerable effort not to mention anything that might make her think of HIM.

Poppy chuckled, and replied “I’m good. Really. Now let’s get started. About getting this first draft to Mr. Lam…”

They sat down on his couch, continuing to talk, and kept right on working for quite some time.

+++++++++++++++++

Poppy had just excused herself to take a bathroom break, when Quincey’s phone rang. He normally turned his phone off during work sessions, but kept it on, given the concerning text exchange with Gyu hours earlier. He looked down at the Caller ID: FATHER. 

_Oh hell no! SHIT!_ But he knew better than to **_ever_ ** ignore a call from him. He answered it before another ring.

“Hello, Father.”

“Quinceton. It’s been too long.”

“Yes, it has.” He never liked chatting with dear ole Dad any more--or rather longer--than necessary. He was a bit curt with him at times when he did get calls. _Honestly, what does that f*cking bastard expect from me?_

“I’ll get right to the point. I just had an illuminating chat with this fellow, one of Tora’s boys, Gyu. But I want to know and tell me the truth Quinceton--where is he?”

Quincey pretty much knew who he was talking about. He rolled his eyes and replied, “He’s not here. I just assumed he was on duty for you, sir.”

Vincent laughed coldly in Quincey’s ear, and did it so loudly that Quincey had to pull the phone away from his ear. _He is one scary-ass mo-fo for sure._

“Son, he hasn’t done anything for me since that fiasco with the notebook and the botched assassinations.” Vincent just assumed Tora shared with Quincey all the Clan’s doings, but that was far from the truth. So Quince played dumb, as ever.

“Well, I’m not always his keeper. He goes to the gym a lot, you know, and has his own special...projects.” He wouldn’t DARE breathe word of his relationship with Poppy. ”But he is not here, and I have not seen him in over two weeks.”

The phone line was silent for several seconds. At just this moment, Poppy walked back into the room, and gave him a quizzical look. Quincey covered his phone, telling Poppy, “I have to take this, could you maybe make me some tea, hon?” 

“Of course!” She walked away, towards the kitchen, while Quincey put the phone back against his ear, and walked out onto his balcony.

“This is a problem, Quinceton. He has responsibilities, obligations to me and I cannot reach him. I do not tolerate disobedience. This Gyu character has already tried tracking him. Since you have not seen him in two weeks, I am doing a more thorough investigation. I am this close, THIS CLOSE to declaring him a Clan ghost. But because of his worth to me AND to you, I am assigning Martin and his men to find him first. IF they find him, I may, I MAY let him live, if he has a valid reason for this vanishing act. Martin will be in touch to ask questions. Procedures, of course.”

Quincey was shocked, wincing at what his father just said. Again, even though he really put a lot of space between himself and the Clan, there was certain amount of Balthuman hierarchy and protocol that Vincent insisted he be conversant in. But at those words, he was scared shitless for Tora. _F*ck, a Clan_ **_ghost_** _? That’s essentially a death sentence…_ Quincey stayed silent, and kept listening, waiting for his father to continue.

“I take it you have an alternate? If not, I can assign one.”

He gulped, and then replied, “Tora always has an alternate in the wings for me, just in case you need him. It’s taken care of. I am of course at Martin’s disposal in any way he needs me—I will do whatever I can in order to get to the bottom of it.”

Quincey knew Tora hated Martin and his lackeys, but this? This was all beyond his control, so he’d have to tolerate dealing with all of them.

“I’m counting on you Quinceton.” 

After Vincent said this, Quincey then heard a soft click as the line was disconnected. He pulled on his hair, completely stressed out as a result of the conversation, and then walked back into the apartment.

“Everything okay, Quincey?” Poppy asked.

“Of course, honey! All good.” But Quincey had a look on his face that was contrary to what he said.

 _Oh f*ck, what can I possibly say to her?_

“Thanks for coming over. I think we’re done for now. I’ll be in touch, and will likely be in the office early next week. I’ll have Smithy take you home.”

“Quin—“ she was going to ask about Tora, again, but be more insistent this time. But Quincey cut her off, not giving her a chance to say anything else. 

“I have to make another call, Poppy. Smithy will text you when he gets to my door to take you home. Have a nice night!” He walked out of the living room and into his bedroom without another word. 

_Well fudge biscuits, there goes that idea_. Poppy was just as exasperated as she was before she arrived.

As soon as the door closed behind him, Quincey immediately dialed Gyu.

+++++++++++++++++

Gyu was beyond nervous. He had never been to Vincent Balthuman’s office before in his life. All of his clan doings were almost exclusively with Big Bro.

Vincent’s assistant ushered him in a lavish room with statues, several couches, and fancy mirrors on the walls. Vincent sat next to a small table, a glass of whiskey in his hand, with a half dressed woman standing behind him.

“Welcome, Gyu. I don’t believe I need any introduction.”

“N.. n… no, sir. Very pleased to meet you.” Gyu was nervous as f*ck.

“I asked you here today because I am trying to get a hold of Tora. I can’t get him by phone. I will be speaking with Quinceton after we discuss things, but I need to know if you know where he might be or the status of his phone. I know you are the most tech-savvy individual in the Clan, so you should be able to track him in some way, yes? And I will need you at my disposal until he is found. But first, do you know where he is?”

Gyu took a deep breath, and responded truthfully, “No, sir. I do not.”

“Do you have any idea where he might be? Any special initiatives that I might not be privy to that he is pursuing?”

Vincent stared at Gyu with cold, ice blue eyes. _F*ck is he awful!_

“I only know that he was doing some tasks for you. I assisted him by finding individuals related to the notebook, but that came up with no one of substance.” 

A blatant lie, but he was loyal to Big Bro, and he wasn’t aware of what Tora might have already shared with Vincent about the whole thing.

“He has a few other things on the side, but he almost never gives me all the details about them, only if it involves technology, tracking, or research.” 

A half truth this time. _F*ck if Vincent ever found out the real deal, about any of what he or Tora have been up to, he was dead._

“Well, this is a problem. When did you last speak to him?” 

“Um….two weeks ago, yesterday.”

“Really. I am concerned. Can you track him, using his phone?”

Gyu decided facts were best from this point forward.

“Actually, sir, we have regular check-ins, and he missed the most recent one. Because of that, I did run my standard SIM tracking program, but got no results.”

Vincent nodded, and Gyu continued.

“I have some other things I can do, ones that are more complex and will take some time. I’d be happy to do those as well.”

“Do it. You will contact Martin with any results. Are we clear?”

“Yes, sir.”

“You are dismissed. And, Gyu? If I find out you were not honest, if you are hiding him, you will pay the price.” 

Gyu was speechless, but wasn’t surprised at this statement at all.

“Understood.”

He left Vincent’s office, and as he walked up the street, he knew he had to talk to Quincey right away. By the time he got in his front door, his phone was ringing.

He connected with Quincey immediately: “Yo, bro, we got a big problem. A big Tora problem.”

+++++++++++++++++

After leaving Quincey’s, Poppy, impulsive as ever, actually decided to walk over to Tora’s apartment. Since no one would talk to her, she could at least try and go straight to the source and see if he might be hiding from her or get some intel of her own. 

She texted Smithy, explaining she had some errands to run, telling him he didn’t need to give her a ride. She’d find her own way back home. 

She arrived on his block, walked over to his building, and then climbed up all six flights of those stairs, up to his door.

She suddenly had a vivid recollection of that day when she first climbed those stairs, with food and medicine in tow, to check in on him after he collapsed the day before. She blushed at the memory of him answering the door in a black tank top and yes, those grey sweatpants. _Whew_. _Even sick, the man was beyond hot._ She remembered throwing his blanket at him, telling him to cover up, since he might catch a chill. He was too distracting to look at, and it made her almost lose her nerve to stay and deal with him.

She knocked. Silence. Utter silence. 

She also remembered how from the moment she arrived, he fudging flirted with her— **incessantly**. Luckily, she managed to mostly ignore him, since she was mostly reeling from the stress of what happened the night before. Her face then grew hot at the memory of their discussion, though, and how he let her express herself and, well, _feel_ what she wanted to feel without any real judgement from him. And that was not the first time that happened with Tora. _He is most definitely NOT Julri._

And those kisses? Wow. Just wow. _That is some reward system, bro._ Her face was a frigging tomato at the memory. She secretly loved the kiss-kiss motion he came up with, of course, and I think he knows this, too. Every time since when he’d use it, she remembered those kisses that day. _Mercy..._

She knocked again, even louder. Still silence.

“Tora, if you’re in there, I need to talk to you,” she said loudly. Crickets. Nothing. Na-da.

She sighed, figuring he wasn’t there or just wasn’t going to come to the door because it was her who was knocking. She slowly walked back down the stairs. This was quite contrary to the last time she skipped down those risers. What was it she told herself, feeling that emotional validation? She said it out loud, something to the effect “F*ck Julri and his bullshit.” Oh yeah, that’s right. She did say that. But now her nerves were now even more frazzled. 

_This didn’t accomplish a damn thing! I am so worried about you—where are you, Tiger?_


	5. “Never been the type to”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gyu and Quincey strategize on how they can find Tora, and decide not to tell Poppy he’s missing. Poppy connects with Cordelia and finds more information on the royal family.

**Day Nine - Thursday**

After connecting the call, Gyu listened as Quincey recounted his conversation with Vincent. Gyu in turn told Quincey about his meeting. They discovered no real discrepancies between what he told them both, but it still left them with a huge problem, and a huge gulf—where the hell is Tora?

“Boo boo, what are these other things you can do tech wise?”

“Well, let me be honest. This should not be discussed further over an open phone line, in order to protect the Clan. It’s better we discuss this in person. Can I come over?”

“Of course! When do you think you will get here?”

“I can be there in about 20 minutes. Make sure no one else is there, not even Tora’s men.”

“OK—I’ll dismiss Smithy for the day. He won’t be happy, but that’s the thug life.”

Gyu did not respond to Quincey’s piddling excuse of a joke.

“Gotta go gather my stuff. Be right there.”

“See you soon, boo boo.

Quincey is now officially terrified. _What the utter f*ck is going on?!?_

+++++++++++++++++

Poppy managed to catch the bus home, and arrived at dusk. She had wanted to start another painting in the waning afternoon light, one of Cordelia, but it would have to wait. 

She changed out of her work clothes, and then made a random decision. She texted Erdene and Jacob, telling them she was taking the morning off the next day.

Dene replied, right away. 

Dene: @Pops >> _not a problem hon. R u sick? Do u need anything?_

Pops: @Dene >> _nah, not really just need a mental health morning I think._

She decided to paint for a while as soon as she woke up. She continued to feel so off, and creating art was one way she felt better, at least distracted enough to function. PING. Came another text alert, this time it was from Jacob.

Jacob: @Pops >> _okay but can you still help finish these sales reports? Gil wants them emailed to him by the end of the day_

Pops: @Jacob >> _course dude! I’ll be there at lunchtime. TTFN_

She closed her text window, locking her phone. While sipping her tea, she thought about texting Quincey. She wondered if he found any pictures of Cordelia. She would have checked social media, but she didn’t know her last name. _That’s it, I’ll just have to paint her face from memory._

+++++++++++++++++

Gyu arrived at Quincey’s faster than he thought was possible, and they immediately sat down in the living room. Quincey quickly started talking. 

“Okay, boo boo. You wanted to meet in person. Can I guess why?”

Gyu put his finger to his mouth, whispering “shhh.”

He pantomimes how there may be eyes and ears paying attention. He wants to make sure that Quincey understands—they don’t want anyone to track what they are going to talk about or do concerning Big Bro.

Before Quincey says anything else, Gyu shows him the app on his phone. He's going to do a detailed sweep of the place, just to confirm it’s not bugged. He knows Big Bro has had to do this periodically, so Quincey knows the routine.

“Have at it, honey,” he murmurs in a low voice.

Gyu opens the app that scans for any type of surveillance equipment. He wants to be extra careful, so he takes his time and scans the entire place slowly, very slowly. He's that nervous.

Quincey is anxious, too, and while Gyu is scanning, he drinks at least two glasses of wine.

_Where the f*ck is that asshole? I mean, what the hell? How did everything get so messed up so quickly?!?_

Gyu finally declares the place bug free, so they can finally begin to compare notes, and decide next steps.

“There are lot of things to talk about and do, so if at any time you need me to review any of it or repeat anything, we can only do it while we’re here and in a space that is bug free. OK?”

Quincey nods.

“Okay, first of all, I need to set up a signal jammer. That way, we can meet consistently without me having to run this scan every time I come over. It might take me a day or two to find one that will work in this square footage.”

“Okay, boo boo. Now spill it, I mean more of it. Give me the deets.”

“To start, I want to do some technical checks, but no one, NO ONE can know that I’m doing these searches. It’s a huge risk, not telling anyone in the Clan, so I know you will be discrete, right bro?” 

“Of course” —Quincey nodded his assent. It’s not like he has ever been involved in Clan doings anyways.

“I did tell Vincent how I would be doing some of these checks, so I can share the basic ones with him and Martin, but the others? The others are going to be secret, just between the two of us. And Vincent has already made it clear he will have me at his beck and call from this day forward. It’s all going to be very dicey to coordinate all of it.”

Quincey sat with his hand on his chin, looking thoughtful. “I can help manage Martin. But it’s gonna be tough, as you know Tora especially despises Martin and his crew. And I would say that the feelings are mutual. I actually question whether or not this will be a ‘fair’ investigation at all, Clan wise.”

Gyu knew all of this, but continued. 

“Right, bro, and we will have to deal with it. And this, this is for him. After what you both did for me—I know this can only partially pay you back for it—“

“Boo boo, you need to forget about that—“

“Anyways, this stuff I’m going to do, of course it’s highly illegal. I don’t believe I’ve ever done this one thing for anyone other than myself, let alone anyone in the Clan.”

Quincey sat transfixed and then became curious. “What is it that you’re going to do?”

“First, I’m going to tap into his text history. It’s a huge invasion of privacy, typically involving a high level Clan edict, or in normal circumstances, a warrant, but given the threat I just got from your father, I’ll chance it.”

“Yes. The threat is real. I say go for it. And you know, Father told me he was on the verge of declaring Tora a Clan ghost. But because he has such ‘value,’ he MIGHT hold off.” 

Gyu visibly paled. “F*ck, are you serious?!?”

Quincey slowly nodded. 

“Anyways, I’m going to not only review content but avatars, names, dates, GPS locations, IP addresses, cell tower pings, anything that might reveal locations or identities. That’s just the first step.”

Quincey, while impressed, stated something they really need to think about sooner rather than later.

“OK—I will support whatever you want to do, of course. But before you explain anything else, we need to address another very important thing: what are we going to tell _her?”_

+++++++++++++++++

**_Day 10 - Friday_ **

The next morning, she dressed in her standard painting attire, and after gathering all her usual stuff, went up to the roof, starting without delay. She put her phone on the ledge, just out of reach, so she isn’t tempted to text anyone. 

Putting dabs of orange, brown, and white on her palette, she grabbed a brush and got to work. Slowly, Cordelia’s smiling face took shape, with a hot red motorcycle propped up in the background.

 _In a lot of ways, Cordelia is completely different than I am, but I still feet a bit of fellowship, almost a sisterhood with her. I certainly did that night._

Poppy suspected Cordelia might be non-binary, and certainly is a lot less feminine than most women. 

_Maybe I need to do more paintings, then I will have a showing. HA! There’s so much stuff crammed into my brain right now, I could fill a warehouse if I painted it all._

She had set an alarm on her phone before she started, so that she knew when she had to go to work. It went off sooner than she expected. So much stuff to do, so she quickly tidied up and sped off to the bus stop. 

+++++++++++++++++

Gyu and Quincey met again briefly the next day, before Smithy appeared for duty, to plan on how they might coordinate Gyu’s egress to and from Quincey’s without anyone noticing anything untoward.

“I think the best thing to do right now is coordinate as much of this as possible from my place. I already have my preferred systems and security set up there, and what little I need to share, can be done during our planned visits.”

“Okay, boo boo. Perhaps the best thing to do is make these visits as random as possible.”

Gyu agreed, of course, and continued. 

“And I’m going to get you a burner phone, one you will only use for this assignment. It will be encrypted so it will be safe to use and share information. I may want to set up a smaller shop in your spare room at some point. But for now, I can store the jammer there, and I will also hide an off-line backup server that I will upload data to in person periodically. It’s a little old school, but that fact alone will guarantee its security. Any other questions?”

“Not today. I am going to call Poppy this afternoon, as I have to schedule a few times to go to Giant Goldfish, but, as we agreed, I am not going to bring up Big Bro.”

“Tell me again what you’re going to say? We need to be saying the same things on this, bro.”

“We will tell her that he’s on a long-term assignment, and essentially incommunicado for the near future. A, a deep cover—yeah, that's it. Deep cover. She knows that he’s in the Clan, so it shouldn’t be a stretch to share this without revealing much of anything suspicious.”

 _Sigh._ “It’s best this way. It’s not 100% true, but it’s not a lie either.”

They sat and stared at each other for several minutes.

“Boo boo, where do you think he is?”

“I don’t know, Quincey. I just don’t know. He’s just gone, and he’s, well, he is essentially a ghost. But I hope we can find him. I really do.” 

Gyu couldn’t possibly tell Quincey certain things Tora was up to, as he was told not to reveal any of it, though he may have to break his promise in order to find him, but none of it would have made him vanish. 

_Let’s hope it never gets to that point, Big Bro, cause the shit will definitely hit the fan if I have to do it._

Quincey agreed. Even with the backup system Tora had put in place years ago, it is just so unsettling for him. He hadn’t been separated from Tora this long since he was, what, 8 years old? 

“I think the worst thing of all? He isn’t missing due to any Clan business. If he isn’t working for dad, what is he doing? Where the f*ck is he?!?”

_Good question, bro, good question._

+++++++++++++++++

Poppy arrived at Giant Goldfish Publishing by lunch time. Before she did anything else, she called Quincey.

“Good afternoon, Ms. Editor!”

“Hi Quincey. Just wanted to know when you’d be in next week, to put it on our schedule.”

“Sure thing, honey. I thought I’d be in tomorrow for sure, but something has come up, so scratch that. I’ll be in on Tuesday for sure. We’ll talk then about scheduling the rest of the month.”

“Great! Um, did you by chance find any pics of Cordelia? And I’d love to talk to her, you know, ha ha, woman to woman. Could I get her number?”

“Oh my gosh I forgot to look. And if you’re okay with it, I’ll have Cordy get directly in touch. “

“Oh, well, that’s fine Quince. Have a great weekend and I’ll see you Tuesday.”

Poppy took a deep breath, but before she could ask, Quincey cut her off.

“Ta-ta Ms. Editor.”

He disconnected too quickly.

 _Damn, that man is fast!_

+++++++++++++++++

**Day 11 - Saturday**

Alas, it wasn’t a particularly beautiful Saturday morning. It was quite grey and cloudy, with rain threatening to fall. She had to put her easel and supplies back into the cramped but designated spot in her living room for her art. Then before she could even breathe, she had a flash of memory from when Tora was there for dinner, when they verbally sparred over her test canvas. It was one of the first times she realized how easy he was to talk to, and from that point on, their usual banter almost always put her at ease.

_Why did I have to remember that right now? Sigh._

Anyways, it is not the most spacious place to paint, but she knew she had to finish the portrait sooner rather than later.

Quincey had texted her the night before, saying he gave Cordelia her number with a note. 

_Hopefully she’ll give me a call._

He also sent along a photo, but she was standing at a distance and the resolution was a bit blurry. Poppy laughed at it, since it really didn’t show anything, guessing it was a covert snapshot. Poppy only knew it was Cordelia because of her orange hair and the fact that Quincey sent it to her.

 _Well, at least he sent something._

She got to work, but it didn’t take long, as it was mostly done. She simply had to make some small corrections, and added a few highlights and shading to make it much better. _Done. Another masterpiece_ , she thought wryly.

She focused on cleaning her brushes, and carefully moving a curtain around the easel, so the painting can fully dry. 

Suddenly, an unknown number was calling. Normally she would ignore, but she knew Quincey had given Cordelia her number, so she decided to answer.

“Hello?”

“Poppylan! It’s Cordelia, love! Quincey gave me your number and said you wanted to chat. How are you, hon?”

“Hello, Cordy! I am so happy to get your call! I’m doing well, Quincey is certainly keeping me on my toes, that’s for sure.”

For almost a full minute they both chuckled knowingly at that fact.

“Yeah, I can see Blondie doing that. He sure is something else. Say, why don’t we get together? I’ll be back in the city in a few weeks, we could have dinner.”

“That sounds great, Cordy! I look forward to it.”

“Wonderful—it will be great to catch up. How’s the tiger boy doing? How did that all work out?” Cordy knew what Quincey was up to that night, but she wasn’t so sure Poppy knew, so she played coy.

Poppy flinched a bit, “Oh, fine. Not much to tell right now. And I haven’t seen him lately.”

“Ah, well enough about him. Tell me all about what you and Blondie have been up to since he signed that contract.”

The two of them chatted for another 15 minutes or so, and then Cordy excused herself, saying she had to meet a friend. After they disconnected, Poppy felt a little more cheerful. Poppy couldn’t wait to see her.

_Maybe she’ll give me a ride on her motorcycle this time._

+++++++++++++++++

That afternoon, Poppy picked her mail as usual and saw that the book she ordered on the royal family had arrived. 

_Sweet! Some new reading material!_

She walked back upstairs to her apartment, and began preparing her dinner. After she was done cooking, she fixed a plate, sitting down at her table. Before eating, though, she started sipping her wine, skimming the book’s table of contents and list of figures. She made note of several chapters that she specifically wanted to read, especially on the chapter on Asura, the Great Uniter, the kingdoms of the region, and Tsagaan, the King sent into exile. She flipped through the illustrations, most of which are in black and white, but paused to look closely at a few color ones and was fascinated. What particularly caught her eye was another, different portrait of Ulaan, one of him by himself alone in full armor, atop his war horse. Without any doubt, she can see that Tora has this same majestic face. 

She queued up Netflix, wanting to watch “Memoirs of a Geisha,” but it’s not available on the streaming service. She’ll have to find out if she can stream it elsewhere, the library maybe? _Gosh I’m on such an Asian film kick, aren’t I?_

In the search results, she discovers something perfect to watch instead, given her focus on the exiled royal family—a Chinese series she hasn’t watched before, [ “Yanxi Palace: Princess Adventures ](https://www.netflix.com/title/81203251?s=i&trkid=255824129),” a royal romance, and fires up the first episode. She soon drifts off to sleep, dreaming she’s a palace princess herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTE: Thinking of Poppy as a palace princess makes me think of the [awesome artwork](%E2%80%9C) of Poppy as a geisha by Cleide Sousa. Bless you for your awesome artwork!


	6. “Let someone see right through”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the search for Tora’s whereabouts begin, Gyu downloads his first batch of Tora’s cell phone data, finding the last text received, allegedly from Vincent. Allegedly. Poppy hunkers down to read the book on the royal family, starting with the story of Ulaan and Yuwa.

**Day 12 - Sunday**

In the guard booth where he works at Poppy’s complex, Gyu sits in front of his laptop, booting up his data analysis software, a program he wrote himself. He made the decision to install another jammer and other safety features within the booth, without management’s knowledge of course, so he can continue to work on his hacking. 

He had just finished downloading Tora’s text messaging datastream yesterday evening after he got home from one of his many work shifts, so he hadn’t had a chance yet to review it. As soon as the software finished opening and he was on an encrypted WiFi connection, he began preliminary data analysis, focusing on the last seven days the phone had been active and receiving messages. He’ll do the same process on Tora’s burner eventually, but he’ll need to find it first, since he doesn’t have all of the information on it in his tech database, nor did it have any data stored in the cloud. It was used and purchased that way anyways, a throw-away phone, not meant to be so easily tracked or analyzed. 

The beginning sweep of the information ended quickly. He noticed that the last text received was on the same day he disappeared.

 _That really bums me out, Big Bro._

And the last text Tora received was from Vincent. And it does not say much: 

Vincent: @Tora >> _The usual place. 30 minutes._

_That is not a lot to work with._

He realizes, then, that he will need to go back and review all the previous texts Tora had received from Vincent in order to compare them, to be sure they are consistent or not. He may even ask Quincey to help, as he is more adept in writing and words than he has ever been. But Gyu also admitted to himself he had a small bit of doubt, wondering if there were more to it, in its brevity, or if perhaps it was a bit suspect.

_I wonder if this text, even the data on his phone, has been tampered with, especially since he’s missing._

He knows that the Clan has numerous secrets and uses a lot of different tools to divert from the truth. Heck, he’s even helped fabricate some of the false information used. So even if he couldn’t see it on the screen, he had a nagging feeling he’ll need to do a deeper analysis of the data, particularly on the actual phone itself and its metadata, **_if_ ** he can find it.

Whatever this text means, piddling as it is, it is enough information to report to Martin. He’ll share his suspicions and a more complete interpretation with Quincey later, at their next reconnoiter.

+++++++++++++++++

**Day 12 - Sunday**

Poppy slept in for a change, then ate a late breakfast. She spent the rest of the morning doing minor housework then lazed around her apartment, watching another episode of [ “Yanxi Palace.](https://www.netflix.com/title/81203251?s=i&trkid=255824129)”

By noon, she got back into bed and started reading the book on royal history in earnest. Before she knew it, a few hours had passed by. She thought more about what she had just read—about Ulaan, the Great Uniter, also called King Asura, the Great Warrior King of the North, and the Northern Demon Asura, and his Queen, Yuwa, and the story of how the four warring kingdoms within the region were united under their rule.

The book contains only minimal information of course; Poppy knows that the story of “the Great Uniter” and the unification of the four regions and its kingdoms includes how Ulaan and Yuwa met and fell in love, and how Yuwa played a significant role in convincing Ulaan to end the war. 

_It wasn’t that she manipulated or connived him to achieve this, but rather it was more—it was Yuwa’s demeanor, and, heck, her determination and philosophy of nonviolence and benevolence, that helped eventually convince him that violence and war were not the way. It was actually his love for her that helped Ulaan seek peace and unity—achieve an end to the war—that finally convinced the great warrior king to put down his sword. But much of that part of the story isn’t in the book though is it._

She then remembers [ a neat webcomic ](https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/asuras-bride-completed/list?title_no=198569) she read while doing her searches, a graphic retelling of the story, focusing more on their love story and the mystical legends of the Okuri Inu. 

_I’ll have to find that link again and reread it. Sigh._ _I’m always down for some smut, but romance? Gosh, I’m definitely a sucker for that, especially interweaved with so much historical drama. A love story that truly shaped the region for years to come._

The illustration contained in the middle of the chapter included a map of the region at the time, and Poppy marveled at its detail. One portion of the map had an asterisk legend, and a note at the bottom, saying “ _Ulaan consistently moved civilians from the north to adjacent conquered kingdoms in order for them to avoid drought and famine.”_

The map also included areas previously conquered by Ulaan. It marked the Qian-Li Kingdom, the strongest kingdom in Eastern Region at the time, as well as the Shan Kingdom, and several areas that Ulaan had already conquered or had previously invaded. Poppy remembered seeing a similar map in the webcomic, but that one highlighted the route of Yuwa’s caravan and other locations revealed within the love story, those that were not as important to the overall story of the uniting the regions.

The Qian-Li Kingdom had the largest army; in order to form a unified alliance against Asura, it was arranged for Yuwa’s older sister, Eldest Princess Yujen, be wed to the eldest son of the Qian-Li royal family. But apparently Yujen balked at the arranged marriage and escaped, so Yuwa, Fourth Princess, offered to take her place, as a stand-in, until she was located. Poppy understands that this was a common practice in royal marriages during these times, where a symbolic replacement would be sent in place of another. 

_I know, of course, that the prince wasn’t going to actually marry Yuwa instead of Yujen; rather, the intent was for Yuwa to serve as a royal symbolic representative of the Shan kingdom._

She sat up, grabbing her laptop, and started typing up some notes about the story, adding the content she remembered from the webcomic. 

While traveling to the Qian-Li Kingdom for the arranged marriage, Yuwa’s caravan was raided by bandits. All of the Shan Kingdom soldiers are killed, Yuwa’s handmaid escapes, but she herself is captured and locked up, told that she is to be sold to the “Northern barbarians.” Before long, however, along the way south, the hijacked caravan meets a Northern soldier—a post-conflict, weary one—Ulaan traveling incognito. They immediately threaten him, of course, and he, being conqueror and warrior, decimates almost the entire group of bandits. Through some trickery, two of the remaining bandits convince Ulaan that their leader was hiding in a locked wagon. Ulaan, being thorough, decides that he will confront the leader, most likely to kill him. But instead of the bandit leader, he discovers the beautiful Princess Yuwa. Ulaan decides to take Yuwa prisoner and to take her to his camp in the North.

 _Why didn’t he just leave her? Because she’s a princess? Hmmmm_... 

In order to protect herself, she tells the Northern soldier she is Yujen, believing that if she presents herself as First Princess, she will have more value and importance. They face some minor adversity ( _and engage in some heavy flirting, snorts Poppy, remembering the webcomic_ ) during their journey. Ulaan and Yuma finally arrive at his Northern camp, and Yuwa finally realizes that he is, in fact, the Northern Demon, King Asura. 

Ulaan seems intrigued _(and_ _entranced_ ) by her, even though she is literally the enemy. He agrees to release her and let her go back to the Shan Kingdom. Yuwa in turn discovers that Ulaan is not the savage barbarian king the Eastern kingdoms thought he was. He is admired and respected by his subjects, and fights alongside them in battle. Yujen is still considered missing, so Yuwa’s cover story remained intact, but only for a short time. As she spends more time with the Northern king, Yuwa decides that she can no longer deceive him about her real identity and tells him the truth. It is not long after she reveals herself when the plot to topple Asura was revealed. 

The Qian Li Kingdom viewed the Shan Kingdom as a strategic location and sought to build an even larger army of allied troops. Ulaan discovered that the Qian Li king was preparing to invade the largest civilian city in the West, and that for every day he did not surrender, one civilian family would be executed until none were left. It was also revealed that Yujen was already forcibly sent to the Qian-Li Kingdom and married to the prince. The Northern advisor planned the whole thing—the arranged marriage, the alleged disappearance of Yujen, the bandits, Yuwa taking Yujen’s place, the route of the caravan, and Yuwa herself. It was all done as an attempt to delay Asura’s return to his kingdom.

_A lot of this happened before Yuwa even left her kingdom to travel. Wow!_

The allied kingdoms needed time for everything to come to fruition, so the unified army could launch their attack. At first Ulaan accused Yuwa of complicity, but she confessed she knew nothing of these plans, only that the Shan advisor coordinated the whole thing. She told Ulaan that he could choose to believe her or not, but it was the truth. 

Other writings she remembers reading implied that the Northern advisor specifically trained Yuwa to be different than her sister. 

She stops typing and thinks through more of the facts she has been able to confirm from the book.

_Yuwa had not only a beautiful face, but a beautiful soul. Huh, it ends up the advisor was mistaken, wasn’t he. He taught Yuwa too well. He also didn’t consider that Ulaan wasn’t the uncaring savage ruler he thought he was. Ulaan was actually regretful, hating war and death, but ever dutiful, he still fought for his kingdom. But still, he believed Yuwa, and fell in love with her. He vowed to bring peace, for her. Lord, isn’t that the most romantic reason **ever** to end a war?!? _

Eventually, the Eastern kingdoms were invaded by Ulaan’s Northern army, and the entire Qian-Li royal family was beheaded, with the exception of Yujen. Ulaan also allowed the Shan King to remain on the throne, and in return he asked for Yuwa, to be his wife, his queen.

_I know that everything was planned by Shan advisor, and, interestingly enough, he was from the north. His plan actually succeeded in some respects, but ultimately it backfired. The advisor had planned on it all leading to the demise of Asura. But instead, it resulted in the region uniting under Ulaan, mostly due to Yuwa._

Getting drowsy, Poppy saves her work, closes her laptop, and shuts her eyes. Soon she falls asleep and begins dreaming. 

+++++++++++++++++

Poppy is riding in a carriage, dozing, when it suddenly comes to a stop. She looks down. She is wearing a beautiful dress and a warm white-furred cloak. She then hears shouting and the clashing of swords. Suddenly, her handmaiden appears at her open side window, informing her that they are under attack. Poppy shouts to the woman to escape and to inform her father what is happening.

She seeks to escape herself, but can’t fit through the window, nor does she have any weapons with her in the carriage to defend herself. Before she can further strategize, a brutish man opens the back door of the carriage, leering at her, saying she will fetch a good price.

_They’re going to sell me?_

The man then grabs her, pulling her out of the wagon, and brings her in front of a shrewish man, with a long beard and mustache. He doesn’t directly address her, instead discussing her worth again ( _a fair price for the barbarians in the North?!?_ ). 

They strip her of her warm fur cloak, giving it to their leader, and then throw her into an emptied wagon, locking her in, and then start traveling south. Ever feisty, she yells and screams a number of threats, but they do not listen to her.

She sits shivering, wondering if rescue might be imminent. After some period of time, the caravan stops yet again, and she hears a man with a deep voice conversing with the bandits outside. She can’t really decipher what they are saying, but within minutes, she hears the sounds of swords clashing and grunts of men, mostly likely being cut down. Eventually it stops.

While mostly quiet now, she does hear one or two men conversing with the man with the deep voice. This man is now getting closer to the wagon, and realizes he’s talking about the leader being the one locked inside, when he doesn’t realize she’s the one who is actually trapped.

She hears a loud thump and scrape, as the lock on the back door is smashed. The doors are then opened by a large hand. Poppy looks up in shock: a handsome man with long black hair, black gauges in his earlobes, a large tribal tattoo on his neck, and lovely, _beautiful_ amber eyes looks right back at her in awe. 

She wakes up startled and breathing heavily. _Tora_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is heavy on the AB storyline, of course. And yes, I refer to the actual Webtoon in this story. Silly, but fun!
> 
> Check out my current favorite AB fanfics:
> 
> [ **In the Year of the Horse**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28267758) (9571 words) by [**saucytuggles**](https://archiveofourown.org/users/saucytuggles)
> 
> [ **Flashing Lights**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27854982) (21968 words) by [**JupitersSun**](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JupitersSun)


	7. “Maybe won't you take it back?”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poppy continues her research into the exiled royal family, and she particularly wants to know more about the Balthuman Clan. She shows up to work after the weekend, and sees the artwork for the Lam book cover—a picture she knows very well. Quincey meets with Martin, and Gyu brings Quincey a burner while they seek alternate ways to communicate until they are completely safe and secure to do so.

**Day 12 - Sunday**

After waking from her dream, Poppy gets up out of bed, and goes into the kitchen, preparing her dinner. Clearly reading about Ulaan and Yuwa made her think even more of Tora—that’s why he appeared in her dream. 

_I wonder what he’s up to and how he’s doing. I hope he’s okay. I….miss him….a lot._

She makes a dinner of vegetables and tofu, and sits down with her laptop, deciding that she wants to find out more about the Balthuman Clan, particularly the part of their history involved with exiling King Tsagaan. 

Of course her web search brings up the same website she had found before, when she had her suspicions about Quincey.

 _What a memory!_ But she doesn’t want to dwell on that particular memory at the moment. Not after that dream.

She reads the website information again, but it is a bit sparse, as it’s a section of the Narin City records office.

 _So they’ve been in existence, in **power** , since the 18th century? Holy fudge biscuits! _ _That’s a long time._

She goes back to her search window, and notices another book available to buy, this one about the history of the Balthuman Clan, one that is tagged to be about the royal family. 

_I’m going to order this book, just for the hell of it. I want answers, dammit!_

She’s actually a little surprised in her veracity in her need to know more.

She knows that life has been much easier the past few days with as many distractions as possible. She is always immensely busy at work, of course, but still she needs to keep her mind as busy as possible, most especially when not working.

She also resolves to ask Quincey if there were anyone she could talk to about the Clan’s history. It’s doubtful that he will know anything, if there were any de facto historian, or that she’d even discover anything of substance anyways, but she is determined to find out more.

_You won’t find out if you don’t ask, Poppylan!_

She finishes her dinner, and decides to queue up one of her all-time favorite movies, “My Neighbor Totoro,” settling in for the night. As the credits roll, she shuts down her laptop, turns her lamp off, and pulls the covers up to her face, hugging her Tototo plush. 

That night she doesn’t dream.

+++++++++++++++++

**Day 13 - Monday**

Quincey received a text late the night before from Martin, _telling_ him they will be meeting the next day at 8 am.

He rolled his eyes when it popped up on his phone as he was getting ready for bed.

_Typical. Infuriating, but typical. Man doesn’t even realize I have things I need to do, that I actually work for a living! F*cking bastard!_

He had no choice but to text him back to confirm it.

It was now 7:58, and he’s now sitting in his living room, waiting, while Smithy stands out on the balcony, smoking, when there is a knock on his door. 

Quincey watches as Smithy hears the knock, comes inside, walking over to the door, then looks through the peephole.

“It’s him with two men. They’re Clan men.” 

“Okay, let them in.” Quincey moves to stand next to Smithy as the door opens, greeting Martin with the fakest smile he could muster.

“Welcome, Martin! Please come in, make yourself comfortable.”

Martin, and then Claude and Scharch, enter the apartment, and then walk toward the living room. They all sit, but are quiet for a few minutes.

_Yep. It’s the douchebag himself, with his touchhole lackeys. I’ve made it this far in life, I can make it through one of these shit meetings with this bastard._

“Alright, Quinceton. You know why we’re here, and what we want to know. Tell us everything you know, and don’t leave anything out.” 

Quincey can barely tolerate Martin as it is, but this f*cking superiority complex he’s giving off at the moment is making him furious. But he knows that in order to find Tora and keep him safe, he’ll have to dust off some of his acting skills and suck it up.

“You’re here about Tora, of course. Father informed me that I am to cooperate with you fully, which I will absolutely do, of course.”

Claude and Scharch look at each other, with a sneer on their faces. Quincey knows how much they both despise Tora. But in reality, he also knows they are actually pretty much terrified of him. Quincey also knows none of them like _him_ either.

“Spill it. Tell me everything. NOW!”

“Well, Martin, I don’t really know anything more than you do. He’s disappeared. My Father thought he was working with me, while I thought he was working for Father. It wasn’t until Father really needed him when we all discovered he was MIA.” 

“Do you have any idea where he was the day he was last seen, before he disappeared?”

This was one thing Quincey _did_ know—he was with Poppy, but he was NOT going to volunteer that information, even if it were the last thing he did. 

“No, I do not.”

“No matter, Vincent has informed me that I have access to Tora’s tech expert—what’s his name? Ronzo?”

“Gyu. His name is Gyu.” Quincey flinched at the use of the less-preferred nomer. 

_Good thing Gyu’s not here, he’d flip a gasket!_

“Gyu. Right. Anyways, I will be talking with him and will get him started to examine any technical angles, or advanced ways we might use to search for Tora.”

Martin did not disparage Tora as much as Quincey though he might, but he knew that it was likely too good to be true.

“And that disrespectful motherfucker better not be messing around. The Clan will **_not_** tolerate disobedience. But we will find him, come hell or high water, dead or alive. Do you understand?”

_Geesh, sounds like my old man talking._

“Clear. Crystal clear.”

Quincey typically abhorred violence, but boy did he want to smack this asshole in the face, with gusto. Hmpf.

“Do you have any other questions for me, Martin? I have work to do.”

Martin gave him a nasty look. A completely disrespectful one.

“No, not now. I may have more questions for you in the future. Make sure I can reach you at all times.”

“Of course! As I told Father, I am at your disposal. Tora is a reliable, adept bodyguard. I want him back, of course.”

Claude and Scharch sat there looking at Quincey with disgust on their faces. They had not uttered a word since they arrived, but their body language and grimaces throughout the brief meeting spoke volumes. 

_They hate his guts and want him to **stay** gone. End of story. Good heavens, this is just the WORST. _

Martin didn’t say another word. He, Claude, and Scharch then got up and walked out. 

After the door clicked shut, Quincey sighed loudly. The jammer was not yet installed, and Gyu had not given him his burner phone yet, so there was not much he could do. He’d have to wait until he saw Gyu again to figure out how to tell him about the meeting, what was asked, and what wasn’t.

_Tora, what the actual fuck are you doing?!_

+++++++++++++++++

Poppy woke up the next morning, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, raring to go to work. Despite her dream the night before last, the reading and writing about the royal family had her soothed, somehow. She ate a quick breakfast, packed her lunch, and ran out the door to make her way to Giant Goldfish to start out a new week, refreshed.

Within 30 minutes, she walked in the door, and Erdene greeted her before she could sit down.

“Hey, good looking, how was your weekend? What’d you do?” 

_Definitely don’t bring up Tiger boy_ , thought Erdene.

“Well, I finished a painting I’ve been working on, and started reading this great book on the exiled royal family. How about you?”

Erdene starts in about her wild, boisterous weekend, clubbing with some high school friends who were visiting from out of town and a bunch of other things she did that weekend. 

_Same ole Dene! I’m so tame, compared to her!_

Soon, they both sit down at their work stations, getting to work. Poppy is completely concentrating on Quincey’s edits of a Lam book chapter, when Erdene comes waltzing up to her, quite excited.

“Hey, guess what! They just delivered the mock-up art for the new Lam book cover. I’m going to go pick it up downstairs. Do you want to take a look?

_“Sure!”_

Poppy already knows what the artwork is—it’s the portrait Poppy painted for Mr. Lam; he had already asked Poppy if it was OK to use it for the cover. She is of course touched that he would want to use it. Erdene and others at Giant Goldfish haven’t seen it yet.

Erdene steps out the door, going downstairs to the building’s mail room, and is back within 5 minutes. Holding a large posterboard, she walks down the hall into the conference room, placing it on an easel. Then she calls Poppy and Jacob in to look it over.

As Jacob then Poppy walk in, Erdene begins to share how pleased she is with it.

“This is such a beautiful painting, Poppy! I love it!” Erdene squeals, giving Poppy a little side hug.

“Yeah, you are pretty talented, Pops!” Jacob concurs.

“Thanks, guys!” Poppy is a bit emotional by the use of the portrait and the praise—so she blushes a bit.

“Well, Gil won’t be in any time soon, but he said the approval is up to Lam and you, and to a lesser extent Quince, but if you think it’s good to go, when we’re ready, we can go to press! I think I’ll leave this here for now.” 

They were in no rush, so she knew that Quincey would see it the next time he’s in the office and could approve it then. They all went back to their desks, returning to work. 

Poppy sits down, but can’t help but remember when Tora delivered the actual portrait to Lam at the airport for her. She remembered how she wasn’t even sure Lam would like it, and the interaction with Tora while she finished it on the rooftop? She blushed at the memory of... _that_.

_He showed up unexpectedly that day, that’s for sure. But his visits are never unwelcome._

They had quite a serious, tension-filled conversation about the picture he took of her. She knew he had already deleted it, but she had to know why he took it in the first place. Even though they talked and she got a little more information, she knows he didn’t tell her the full story. She wonders if she ever will know the full story.

Poppy sighs as she remembers how Tora offered to deliver it, and of course when he asked for (and got) his reward. After watching him tap his cheek, expecting a quick smooch there, she knows how much she surprised him, being so assertive, giving him that kiss on the lips.

 _He is such a good kisser_ , recalling his soft lips on hers. She may have never been so bold, if she hadn’t read that _Secret Garden_ passage right before he appeared. She sniggered a little bit when she recalled shoving him down the stairs.

She knows she has a tendency to react in such abrupt ways when she’s flustered.

Julri, that shithead was just too predictable to take such chances. Julri made her question everything she did, say or do, so she would have never even thought of kissing him without asking or an invitation. He hated spontaneous stuff like that. But Tora was so not, Julri. SOOO NOT. 

She sat at her desk, still blushing, touching her mouth at the memories, when her phone started ringing. Back to work! 

_I can't even begin to think of all those other kisses from him, or I will never get any more work done!_

+++++++++++++++++

It’s late evening, and Quincey is relaxing, drinking a glass a wine when there is a light knock on his door. 

_Who could that be at this hour?_

He walks over, looking through to the peephole and sees Gyu. He immediately opens the door.

“Hey, boo boo, I wasn’t expecting you!”

“Hey bro, I have a **_present_ ** for you.” Gyu gives Quincy a long look, as if he didn’t want to elaborate on it, but to also emphasize it’s importance.

“A present? For moi?” Quincey gestures with his head for Gyu to come in.

Gyu hands him a plain white plastic bag, and Quincey looks down into it, and then back up at Gyu’s face with a questioning look on his face. _What is this?_

“It’s that thing you always wanted that you asked me to get, bro.”

_Ah, I think it’s something we already talked about. Got it._

“Wonderful! I hope it wasn’t too difficult to find it.” 

_Until we get everything to Gyu’s satisfaction, we’ll have to find ways to communicate_ , thought Quincey.

“Nah, not at all, bro. Can I come in for a few minutes?”

“Sure.” He gestures toward the couch in the living room, as he walks over to the kitchen for another glass of wine.

“Drink?”

“No, thanks. I just want to be sure you’re okay to use the gift I brought you, you know, to make sure it works?”

_Ah, he wants to make sure I remember what it is, and perhaps we can compare notes._

“Sure, boo.” He sits down next to Gyu, who pulls the burner phone out of the bag and turns it on, and hands it to Quincey. He had put a handwritten note on the screen for Quincey to read.

The note reads:

> _I purposely dropped by without telling you to keep people off our trail. This is the burner I told you I was buying. Until I get the jammer installed, we should not talk, text, or call each other unless its meaningless to the Clan and to the search for BB. This is like a normal phone, and my burner is already programmed. We will have to come up with a system to share things w/o being obvious for the next couple days, even if we text or talk. I’m hoping with your skills, we can come up with our own code just in case we are compromised. Give me a big smile, then make sure to burn this note._

After reading the note, Quincey looks up at Gyu with a huge grin on his face. 

“Oh, honey, it’s perfect! It’s exactly what I wanted! Thank you!” Quincey locks his eyes on Gyu’s, making sure he can tell that he most definitely understands.

“And tell me about your day. Mine was dreadful! I had a visitor and, well, let’s just say it was a bitter reunion of a sorts.” Quincey continues to look directly at Gyu with a serious expression on his face. None of this is new information, so it’s safe to say it.

Gyu knows that Quincey would have to meet with Martin at some point, so he could only guess that’s who his visitor was that morning. Once they get all the security set up, they will have to talk more about what questions he asked, who’s working with Martin, and what they already know.

_I think we are on the same page, bro, so for just a little longer, we’ll just have to do this, I promise it will get easier._

“Oh, that’s too bad, bro. Mine was spent at work, you know, drudgery watching people come and go. But luckily I have my laptop with me, so I can keep myself entertained.” Gyu returned Quincey’s gaze, hoping Quincey knew what he was up to. 

Quincey nodded his head slightly, knowing that Gyu had his tech stuff to work on, and is considerably relieved that he has found alternate ways to keep at it, given that he had to stick with only working in his place, it would limit what he could do.

_Got it, boo boo. You go, dude._

“Well, thank you for bringing this to me, and getting it so quickly. You know how much I needed this right away. Anyways, what about that other thing I needed, how long until you can get that to me as well?”

Quincey kept going, believing he and Gyu had known each other long enough to really know a lot of what each was thinking. 

_He has to know I’m talking about the jamming stuff, so we can speak freely._

“Oh, yeah, that. Well, I’ll be going. I have to check on the order, to see if it came in. I’ll text you when it arrives, so I can bring it to you without delay.”

Gyu walks over to the door, Quincey right behind him. Gyu reaches for the doorknob, and before he turns it, Quincey places his hand on his shoulder and squeezes.

“I want to thank you for everything. I know this is not easy, but I simply want you to know that I will do everything I can to pay you back for helping me.” 

“Thanks, bro. I’ll be in touch.”

Quincey walks into his kitchen, pulls a lighter out one of his drawers, and lights the note on fire, dumping it aflame into his kitchen sink, watching it burn to ash.

Gyu watches him do this, then opens the door and walks out. 

_As long as we can find him, bro, it’ll be worth it. So very much worth it._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading the latest chapter in this ambitious story. 
> 
> Query for anyone who wants to know. I’ve actually written many prompts to help me write. 
> 
> Do you think it’s helpful to know what these prompts are? 
> 
> If there is some interest, I can post them in the notes, prior to each chapter, sort of a preview. But know that these are prompts and the actual story may vary slightly.


	8. “Say you were tryna make me laugh”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another new week at Giant Goldfish Publishing, another work session with Quincey, but Gil remains aloof and MIA. Quincey decides to sic Gyu on some background research on the company—and Gil. Poppy seeks to visit the Narin City Historical Society and it’s permanent exhibit on Ulaan and Yuwa’s reign. Gyu thinks of another way to track down Tora, but he and Quincey still need to wait for their secure systems to be installed.

**Day 14 - Tuesday**

As scheduled, Quincey arrives at Giant Goldfish.

“Hello, my lovelies! Another day, another….load of smut!” Quincey smirks at his silliness.

 _It’s pretty infectious, his ridiculousness_ , thinks Erdene, smiling right back at him. _Working with such a famous author is not what I expected it to be. At all._

Poppy giggles as well, but her mirth fades as she sees that it is yet again Smithy walking in behind Quincey. Before she can even think of opening her mouth, Quincey flounces his way to the conference room.

“Okay, ladies and gents, let’s get cracking!” 

As he walks through the conference room door, he sees the Lam book cover artwork. 

“Oh, Sugar Pops, this artwork is simply radiant! I love it! I approve it, of course. Dene Bean, can you be sure to let Lam know, hmmm?”

“Of course, Quince. And if you’re okay with it, can I keep the artwork here while we work? We don’t really have any other storage at GG, so I’ll have to find a home for it.”

“Oh fine. What if you framed it and we can hang it up on one of the walls in here?”

“That’s a great idea. I’ll look into that.” 

_Why didn’t I think of that_ , thought Erdene. She really didn’t like all the inspirational shit currently hanging on the walls at Giant Goldfish. _This artwork might make us look a little more legit._

Quincey is so happy after seeing the painting, and quite surprised to see the quality of it. He never realized how talented a painter Poppy is.

_l She is good at this. My little Ms. Editor is a woman of many talents. I wonder if Erdene would be upset if Pops did a cover or two for my works. Hmpf. I’ll have to be careful about approaching her about that idea._

“Anyways, where is Gil, is here today?”

Jacob walks into the room, “Nope. He told me he’ll be working remotely until the foreseeable future. Didn’t give me a reason.”

“Hmmm. That’s interesting. You don’t have any idea why he’d be doing this?”

“Not a clue,” Jacob replies.

Quincey has yet to meet the man in person in all his time working with them, and his Clan sensibilities are starting to shift to high alert. 

_I’ve been around Tora way too long not to recognize that something stinks. I’m going to talk to Gyu about it._

“Is there any way we can Skype him, or FaceTime him? He is the director of this company, after all, and I’m the biggest client. And it’s a bit strange I have yet to meet him other than via camera.”

“I can ask, but I barely get an email or text response from him at this point.” Jacob, too, was getting a little put off by Gil’s standoffishness. 

“Okay, maybe a personal call from me later today will help? Anyways, we need to keep on schedule, so let’s get to work.”

Poppy didn’t say anything about the painting, Gil, or anything else, for that matter. She is trying to be patient, SO PATIENT, but she is still just dying of curiosity. 

_What I wouldn’t give to see that goof walk in the room wearing that outfit, the long-sleeved turtleneck, the hat, the boots? SIGH._

She knew why he obviously had to wear it, to cover his brand and other tattoos, to hide his Clan affiliation, and always in bodyguard mode when he shows up here. 

Poppy recalls that there have been a few moments, too, like the first day he and Quincey appeared, when he shamelessly flirted with her while he was on duty at Giant Goldfish. 

She smiles to herself, remembering that whole exchange between Quincey and Tora that day, especially how clueless, utterly clueless Quincey was with the sexual innuendo— _the size comparison, snigger_ —that Tora was debating with him. 

_That was so hilarious._

Even she recognized how risqué this repartee was, for fudge sakes. And it was the first time Tora made that little two-finger kiss-kiss gesture at her. Gosh, she was red as red can be when he did that. She still gets that way, every time he’s done it after that day—that gesture never fails to make her flushed and bothered. 

_And those illegal dimples! AHHHHH!_

Suddenly she hears Erdene call out to her, “Yo, Pops, you coming?”

“Sure Dene, be right there.”

Quincey is finishing up a text to Gyu just as Poppy sits down.

YM Quincey: @Gyu>> _Boo boo i have a task for you. I need you to do a complete background check on Giant Goldfish, especially the director Gil. Something doesn’t make sense. Can you do that for me?_

Gyu: @YM Quincey>> _you got it, bro. I’ll be in touch when I finish my research. TTYL._

By the time their work session is over, it’s late in the afternoon. 

“Hey, Quince—“ Poppy tries, yet again, to get Quincey’s attention, but to no avail.

“TTYL, fishes! See you again soon!” Quincey quickly leaves, ignoring Poppy, with Smithy walking out, not far behind.

_GODDAMMIT. He did it to me again, that fudging pain in the ass. I’ve got to get some answers, and soon. You won’t get away from me again, QB Noyouko, you baby thug!_

+++++++++++++++++

Later in the evening, Poppy decides that she’s going to look into any local historical societies and museums in the area, focusing on both the Clan and the exiled royal family, and decides to start with what she’s found so far, so she goes back, again, to the link on King Tsagaan’s exile, finding and then clicking on the home page of the Narin City Historical Society. She finds a lot of material on the royal family, including a note about there being a permanent exhibit with artifacts dating back to Ulaan and Yuwa’s time. 

_I have got to go see that. I wonder if Dene wants to go with me._

Pulling out her phone, she sends a quick text to her:

Pops: @Dene >> _hey any chance you want to go visit the Narin City Historical Society with me?_

Dene: @Pops>> _well, dunna kno. I’m not really a stuffy museum type._

Pops: @Dene>> _hey there is a huge permanent exhibit about King Asura. You have GOT to take a look. Check out this portrait._

Poppy sends a copy of Ulaan and Yuwa’s portrait she saved on her phone.

Dene: @Pops>> _WTH that looks just like Tiger boy. OK, i am seriously curious now and have to find out more. Count me in. We’ll talk tomorrow about deets, etc. I got a date, so I gotta get ready. K?_ 💋

Pops: @Dene>> _enjoy! See you tomorrow_

Poppy closes her phone, and gets back on her laptop. She tries to find the section of the website giving hours and other information for visits, but doesn’t find anything. She does a little more of in-depth scan of the site, and finds a few bits of information on the Clan. She sees there is a text interface to ask questions, 24-7. She opens a new window, and starts with one of question:

_**NCHS 24-7 Chat Window:** _

_Greetings. Have questions on the history of Narin City? Ask away!_

Hi, is there any information in your records about the exile of King Tsagaan and the Balthuman Clan?

_I’m sorry, I can’t answer that question. Try again?_

Do you have material on Ivan Balthuman?

_I’m sorry, I can’t answer that question. Try again?_

She’s getting frustrated.

Is the sky blue?

_I’m sorry, I can’t answer that question. Try again?_

What are the hours.

_Thank you for your question. The NCHS is open Tuesday-Thursday, 9am-4pm and Saturday, 10am-2pm._

_OK, that’s something I can use! Geesh. I can share this much with Dene tomorrow, so we can plan a visit._

Of course she didn’t get all of her questions answered, and she didn’t expect to, so she closed the chat window. She should have known it was actually an unmanned chatbot, likely set up to ask basic questions about hours, location, and so forth, just like her last question. If the question doesn’t fall within their specifications or within the coded keywords, you just get the standard “I can’t help you” answer. _Typical._

She takes a shower, brushes her teeth, and sits down to watch something. She is of course seeking something to keep her in her Asian-cinema rut she’s been in lately. _Anything that will distract me, frankly._

With a quick search, she finds and watches the first episode of another show on Netflix, “[The Untamed](https://www.netflix.com/title/81200228?s=i&trkid=14997095),” a Chinese show with subtle LGBT subtexts, about soulmates who unravel a dark mystery resulting a tragic past event. She wonders if Quincey knows the story, as its based on a famous [Xianxia novel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xianxia_novelz). 

_If this show is good, maybe I’ll suggest that Quincey write some erotica based on it. That man has even more of a thirst for dirty stories than I do._ She smiles at this fact, while clicking to start the first episode.

+++++++++++++++++

Later in the day, Gyu texts Quincey with as much of an update as he can, including how he’s found some stuff on Giant Goldfish.

Gyu: @YM Quincey>> _hey got a few things for your on that company, Goldfish. It’s a lot to send via text. Should I come to you and give to you at home? I’m on a shift, but could stop by tomorrow afternoon._

YM Quincey: @Gyu>> _that’s fine. Why don’t you come by right before your next shift. 2ish? K?_

Gyu: @YM Quincey>> _good. I have some other things to talk about, but nothing necess before tomorrow. And that mutual friend of ours? such a reckless driver, ya?_

_Reckless driver? Ah, Tora. Well, he does sometimes go a bit fast, I don't know about reckless, but the dude can’t park to save his soul._

YM Quincey: @Gyu>> _told the man to take it easy, but he never listens to me. How that man hasn’t wrecked yet is beyond me. What can you do about it tho right?_

Quincey wonders if the information has something to do with Tora and his driving— _wait, is it about his car?_ It has to, but they still need to get that jammer installed before they can talk or text about it.

YM Quincey: @Gyu>> _And he never manages to get a ticket either. Me? You know my deal—six accidents is six too many._ 😋

Gyu wants to tell him that he’s found a couple other ways to track Tora—traffic cams, any virtual tickets (those unholy traffic cameras that give tickets have been recently installed in some parts of the city), and he wants to look for Tora’s car; after all, it has an on-board computer he can hack. 

_The car can give me more GPS data that his phone might not contain._ _Just more numbers to crunch, but I’ll take it. And we have to find the car before those assholes Claude and Scharch do. I have to believe that Martin doesn’t put all his eggs in one basket. He has to be conducting a parallel search of his own._

Gyu: @YM Quincey>> _bro, you r too bad. I gotta go. No rest for us wicked ppl. Got 2 go Night_

_Every little piece we find out about Big Bro, the closer we get. If we get an inch, we get an inch. Otherwise, we have nothing. Hang in there, bro. We will find him._


	9. "You didn't mean to say, 'I love you'"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poppy laments the lack of information about where the Tiger might be and has another fond memory. Gyu and Quincey finally have some security to openly discuss what they're doing, their progress, and how they need to keep what they know from Poppy.

**Day 15 - Wednesday**

No news is...no news, and Poppy feels powerless to find out anything anyways. She has no real perception of how things work in the mafia nor anything of what Tora exactly _does_ , other than his bodyguard stuff with Quincey. She knows he does have his own men—that was evident at the joint party at Fallen Angel. 

_He has those men wrapped around his fingers. If he said “jump,” they’d ask “how high?” And they really all think he's gay? Pfft. Pfft._

But since she’s known him, Tora had always kept what he did from her as much as possible. She knows that he likely does bad things, _really_ bad things, so ever since she found out, she couldn’t help but think of all the trope filled examples of mafia thugs in movies and television to fill her brain, imagining the worst. And she wondered how much of it was true, or if it even paled by comparison, or if it were not as bad (though highly unlikely).

_It is possible that all that stuff is far from accurate. Gulp. I’m thinking it’s probably just as bad as I think it is, but much worse. But what task, what “job,” would he assigned where he'd be out of touch for two weeks, for fudge sake? Sigh. I guess I really don’t want to know anyways. But I’m still going to ask Quincey. And maybe Quincey can tell me more about himself, too. I mean two mafia families? I’m gonna make you spill your guts, QB!!_

After working her tush off, Poppy leaves Giant Goldfish to travel home. Her trip is uneventful as it has been most days, but periodically she has a sense that she is being watched or followed. She makes it home without any other issues, and as is her usual routine, she heats up dinner and gets on her laptop. She looks up mafia stuff, not really absorbing any of the information she’s reading. She searches for a good Yakuza related film, melding her recent Asian movie kick and her looking at mafia lore. She finds a relatively recent film, [ _Outrage_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outrage_\(2010_film\)) _._ She watches for a short time, but it is subtitled and violent, and she loses interest quickly and shuts it off. She’s not really tired, even though it’s quite late, but since it is a pleasant night, Poppy decides to sit out on her balcony, as the sun sets over the river. 

_Gosh it is just so beautiful tonight. This is one of the things that had me sold on renting this apartment._

Her mind drifts, and she can’t help but recall that one night, with him, right where she's sitting.

 _Heck, what_ **_doesn’t_ ** _make me remember him._

That exhausting night after chasing Lam, rescuing Benjamin, and the confrontation with Tora at Quincey’s. But it was how it ended, particularly that moment, him sitting where she is now, when he grabbed and held her hand. It felt so good to have a human connection at that moment, after everything she had been through the days before. 

Sure, he was practically a stranger, then, but he was just so good looking and a bit charming, so she indulged herself, letting him hold her hand. He’d done it so many times since she first met him. While he startled her quite a bit with his comments about climbing the fence, the sturdiness of the railing, and the lock on her balcony door, she realized it was the first time she could really be herself around him, especially when it was just the two of them. Her mind fills with a vision of his face, that look he gave her just after he told her he’d never held anyone’s hand before. Not scary, not upset, not judge-y, it was...honest? open? It was actually quite nice. Poppy slowly begins to blush and smile.

She sighs, and gets up and walks back inside to get ready for bed. Before she closes the balcony door, she looks out into the parking lot. Not a lot of cars or activity, as usual, but she smirks to herself and makes an exaggerated gesture to lock the balcony door behind her.

++++++++++++++++++

As he getting ready to leave the complex for the night, Gyu looks up from the guard booth door to see Poppy sitting out on her balcony. He understands that she doesn’t know as much as he and Quincey do. 

_She doesn’t have a clue that he’s missing. Thank GOD she hasn’t asked me anything—yet._

On his way home, he stops by Quincey's apartment. He'd already texted him that he’s on his way, and he’ll fill him in when he gets there.

When he arrives, Quincey opens the door before he knocks more than once.

“Hey, boo boo. What’s up?”

“S’up bro. Hey, you have a spare key to Big Bro’s apartment, ya?”

“Sure. He left it here in case he loses his keys, or, well, for any other emergency situation. You know, _so I can hide the guns_.”

Quincey whispers the last part, and Gyu rolls his eyes at this silliness.

_I know he’s trying to make me smile, but geesh, NOT funny._

“Cool, cool. I left my, uh, my...one laptop down there and I need to get it. It has that...file I need to read, you know, to be sure I haven’t forgotten the…” He's struggling to tell Quincey what he means without revealing the truth.

Gyu is trying to tell Quincey he needs that spare key, as it’s time time for a thorough search, if Claude and Scharch haven’t already ripped the place to shreds. Tora already has his own security measures, of course, but he isn’t going there to have a clandestine meeting. He is mostly seeking Tora’s burner and any other things that he may find in order to will give them a direction to turn to in their exasperating search for where BB might have gone.

“Ah, say no more, honey. Let me get it for you.”

He walks into his bedroom, and walks back out with a key on a plain silver ring. 

“Here you go. I hope you find what you need.” Quincy lifts his left eyebrow, hoping Gyu knows he’s onto what he needs to do.

_I get it, boo boo—you must need to get in there to look for something, anything, ya?_

“Hey, I got that last thing you needed me to get for you. Can I come tomorrow afternoon and show it to you?”

“Of course! I’m planning to be here all day. Text me when you get here.”

“OK. Gotta go look for that laptop, then. See you tomorrow.”

Gyu leaves, and Quincey desperately hopes that things will start to get much easier to do, when the jammer gets installed.

_Once we can talk freely, maybe we can make some real progress. That big meanie better be safe, wherever he is!_

++++++++++++++++++

**Day 16 - Thursday**

Gyu was fast asleep after another long night, when the buzz of a received text on his phone wakes him up. He sits up, grabbing it off his nightstand. It’s from Martin.

Martin @Gyu>>Report.

Gyu @Martin>>I don’t have much. Reviewed phone data. Last text was same day he disappeared from Mr. Balthuman.

Martin @Gyu>>Find out more. I know you are capable. Don’t disappoint me.

Gyu @Martin>>yes, sir

He didn’t get any further response back from Martin, and was relieved. He couldn’t stand most of the Clan higher-ups anyways. He was thankful he had as much as he did to tell Martin. Of course, he wouldn’t dream of sharing more of what he’s doing, his deep dive into the data, nor his suspicions. Both he and Quincey are both being so careful of what they are doing to find Big Bro, so he’s relieved the jammer arrived.

_I have to get that thing installed at Quincey’s place and FAST._

He has some time before he has to go over to Quincey’s, so he grabs some leftovers out of the fridge, sits down at his desk, booting up his system, getting back to it, even for an hour.

++++++++++++++++++

Gyu shows up at Quincey’s at 2 pm on the dot. He doesn’t waste any time chatting with him, he walks to the spare room, turning on the light, and gets started, first installing the server in the ceiling. This doesn’t take long, and doesn’t let Quincey see it or where he’s installing it.

Next, the jammer goes in the closet, on top of a tray table. It’s not big, and the set up is simple. He’s so adept and practiced at installing this type of device, it takes less than 20 minutes.

He walks back out into the main part of the penthouse, and sits down across from Quincey, taking a huge breath in obvious relief.

“Whew! I don’t know if we could have waited another day. There is so much to talk about! Anyways, if there has been anything installed here since the last time I scanned, the device will cancel it out, while still allowing us to use our phones and any other networked devices. Your WiFi will function normally as well.”

“Good, boo boo. I don’t need to know all the deets, just that it works, and I can be frank with what I tell you. What a week! You first.”

“Okay, where to start. First, I hope you understood that I wanted to look for Big Bro’s car, ya?”

Quincey grinned—“Yes, that’s exactly what I was thinking!”

“Good, saves me a few words,” Gyu said with a huff of humor. “I want to find it, of course, as it has an on-board computer I can tap into and analyze. I need to find it before Martin and his goons do. There is a chance there is something else still there, too, stuff only you and I know might be important, so I will be taking perhaps a unique approach to find it.”

“What will you do?” Quincy is simply inquisitive in everything he does. It’s the writer in him and, well, he just has to know EVERYTHING.

“I’m going to do a scan of traffic cameras, you know, the ones they installed not far from Ares Street giving tickets on the spot? It records license plates, and with my mad hacking skills, it should be easy-peasy to hack that stuff.”

Quincey smiles, “Got it. Anything else?”

“Well, the car will be a challenge, as the data is more complex to analyze than a phone, but it will have data that the phone might not. And I really need to find it before Claude or Scharch, because those f*ckers will rip the car to shreds, literally.”

“Those pigs… I despise those two Neanderthals.” Quincey sneered at the thought of them.

“And I want you to understand—you gotta believe that Martin is doing more than he is, he isn’t counting on just what I find. He’s probably got his own dog to do his bidding, one that won’t protect Big Bro like we are.”

Quincey has to admit Gyu is correct, unfortunately. 

“We now have the jammer, so things will be much easier now, but be sure if you text me anything related to this stuff, you do it HERE and on your burner ONLY. It will be protected here, but not elsewhere. I don’t trust a single motherf*cker in the Clan with this. Tora may be Big Bro, the Tiger of Ares Street, but there are a lot of men who would like him to be GONE, and don’t want him to come back.”

Quincey pales at this statement. “Really? I mean, I don’t know what Father has him do, most of the time. I mean, I think I can guess, but most of what I know is just what he does with me.”

“OK—a partial report on the texting data. The last text he received was the same day he disappeared, and it was from Vincent. At least it appears that way, but I’ll be honest—given his disappearance, it’s highly suspect. One of the things I need your help with is reading the past texts Big Bro got from Vincent. You’re a writer and can, you know, check out the words used in the past compared to the recent message. If there is a pattern, you’ll notice it I’m sure. But if it’s not like any of the others, we need to know. It could be a set up of some kind. I don’t know why I’m so suspicious, but hey, this is the Clan. Nothing is ever what it seems, most of the time.”

Quincey nods his head, “Sure, I can do that. Can you filter the data, so I only have to read the texts from Father?”

“I don’t know, but I’ll try. It’s a lot of reading, but we have to be sure. I still need to track the GPS data, which is just so time consuming. Even though I’m trying to track the most recent message, I have to analyze the whole dataset. That will depend on the settings on the phone, his account, and how many messages he’s sent in total. It’s a mountain of data, but it’s all we got right now.”

Quincey also realizes something else: “You mentioned in your handwritten note that we will need to come up with an alternate system to communicate. I think our system so far has worked, I mean at least for me. When you mentioned our friend the reckless driver, I knew what you meant! But it’s practical to do that, for when we are not here, in the company of other Clan members, and, well, when we talk about anything related to Tora with her, Poppy. She doesn't have a clue that he’s missing, only that he’s on assignment. I feel terrible lying, but I don’t think we have a choice at this point. “

“Yes, an alternate form of sharing information is prudent, Quince. And so far, we’ve managed to communicate some important shit, honestly. And I’d say we avoid talking to Poppy as much as we can, although that might be hard for you, as she’s your editor.”

“True, but I’ve been sticking to business only for the past couple weeks, and if she has asked, I’m as succinct as possible. She asked if I knew where he was, and I just told her the truth—no. She wasn’t happy, but it’s for the best. But I’ll keep off the subject as much as I can, but it’s getting hard to put her off it. She’s...I think she suspects something is up, what, she’s not sure, but she’s a smart cookie, so she’ll keep us on our toes, more than the Clan, probably,” Quincey snorts. 

"And last night? I needed get into the apartment to look for his burner and any other things he may have stashed. I know him better than Claude or Scharch, so I know some of Tora's hiding spots. Didn't know if they knew about the place, to be honest, but wouldn't put it past Martin to find out about it, but they did. Found the burner and some other stuff--toilet tank. An oldie but goodie. But all the guns and ammo? Gone."

"He is NOT gonna be happy about that, but given the situation, I'll buy him a 100 more of them!" _I know the dude is all "Guns N Ammo_ " _but seriously, there are always more!_

"The couch was slashed open and all the frigging stuffing was taken out and is everywhere. All his clothes were shredded, and--"

Quincey winced at that fact. Dude was far from a fashion expert, but he was picky about his threads. _Those vindictive f*cks!_

"Well, everything, ANYTHING in boxes or drawers or cupboards has been dumped, smashed, thrown--all over the f*cking place. It's a complete and utter mess. But I found some stuff they didn't find, and I'll look at when I get home."

 _Those f*cktwats are gonna get theirs some day, mark my words._ Quincey is normally not so cruel or vindictive, but targeting Tora like they are? _Dude, I gotta do it--you are my brother, goddammit. CRAP, I'm channelling mom and dad right now--I am getting desperate._

“I want you go to back as soon as you can and pack up everything, even the broken stuff, and bring it back here, so we can look at it carefully. Since Martin's lackeys have had their chance, f*ck 'em. _Leave no stone unturned_ , so to speak. I'm not taking any chances. I'll contact his landlord and keep the rent up to date. I'll order some industrial totes, and we can store them in my spare room."

"You got it, bro. Right, I’m going to go download and backup the data I have so far on the server. I’ll be doing that periodically and will try to do it when we have our scheduled visits. And I think keeping them random is best for now. If I show up and Martin or Poppy or hell, even your Father is here when I show up, we’ll just have to come up with some excuses.”

“Good work so far, boo boo. I know this is so hard, and, hell I miss the cretin. I wish I knew what happened to him. I really do.”

“You and me, both, bro. You and me both.”

"And I do want to get that information on Giant Goldfish, but we'll do that next time?"

"Ohhh, right, I forgot to bring that with me. Definitely next time. Just wait to you find out."

Quincey is surprised at that comment. _Now what?_


	10. "I love you...and I don't want to"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poppy and Erdene go out partying at Club Miracle. Gyu goes to Tora's tossed apartment, for more searching and clean up, finding some things he didn't expect to.

**Day 17 - Friday**

Just as Poppy walks into Giant Goldfish that morning, Erdene jumps on her back.

“Hey, woman, I think we need to have a club date, you and I, tonight. You in?”

Poppy sighed. She wasn’t really in the mood, but Erdene’s enthusiasm--and the big grin on her face--make Poppy change her mind.

“Sure, why not!” She fakes her peppiness. _Fake it until you make it._

“Alright, this boney bitch is ready to par-ty tonight!” 

Poppy can only giggle in response. 

“I’m thinking Club Miracle? It’s supposed to be hopping. I think Quincey can get us in. I’m going to text him now.”

Erdene dances her way back to her desk, with a decided pep to her movements. She pulls out her phone to text Quincey:

Dene Bean @Quincess>> _yo my good smut man, can u get Poppy and I into Club Miracle tonight? Rumor has it u got the touch._

Quincey opens her text, even though he’s still not really awake yet, and sniggles a little. 

_Sure I do. I’m kind of the owner, but I’m not telling her that._

He texts her back to confirm:

Quincess @Dene Bean>> _Sure, DB I have some pull. I’ll give the bouncers your names for VIP access. I may even join you. Dig?_

Dene Bean @Quincey>> _bless you my man, bless you. TTFN._

Erdene is thrilled. _Yes, she shoots, she scores!_

“We’re good to go, Pops. Quince will get us in--VIP access no less. Why don’t you come home with me after work, and we’ll get takeout for dinner, get glamorous together. I’m sure I have an outfit you can wear.”

“Sure, Dene. Sounds like a plan.” Poppy is just a little apprehensive, as she hasn’t been to Miracle since that night. THAT night, but dismisses her unease, at least for now, as Erdene is just so thrilled.

Then, they both smile at each other, and each goes to their respective desks to start the day.

++++++++++++++++++

At the end of the day, they arrive at Erdene’s apartment, with Thai food to eat for their dinner. After a delicious meal of Pad Thai and Panang Chicken Curry, they have a cup of tea and dig into Erdene’s voluminous closet. 

Erdene pulls out a short, flirty dusty-pink dress for Poppy to try on. It fits perfectly. The hem ends mid-thigh, and has ruffles on the sleeveless arms, and a wide ruffled hem. Poppy searches through Erdene’s shoe farm ( _She has so many fudging shoes!)_ , and selects a pair of black velvet 4” pumps with a large bows on the front.

“Ooo, Fancy shit, Pops. Let’s pair it with a pretty pink scarf, or a necklace?” _Whatever. I just don’t really care._

Poppy did feel a bit better, and knows that a night out to let loose will be good for her.

“Thanks, Dene! I feel so free and raring to go!”  
  
Soon, Erdene finds her own outfit, a backless sparkly nude-shaded thing with strappy clear pumps of her own. They both take their dresses off so they can do their hair and makeup. 

“And here is a clutch, so you don’t have to drag your suitcase with ya.” Erdene thinks Poppy’s purse is a monstrosity, but to each their own.

“Thanks, Dene!” It’s a lovely pink satin clutch with just enough space for her phone, money, and lipstick.

“When do you think you’ll be ready? I can call for an Uber.” 

“I should be done in, I don't know, 20 minutes?”

“Sounds good.” Poppy taps away on her phone and reserves a car in no time flat. 

“Done. It’ll be here shortly.”

++++++++++++++++++

They are dropped off at the barrier a block away from Club Miracle in no time flat, and they walk rapidly over to the entrance, going up the stairs. Just as Quincey promised earlier that day, the bouncer has their names, and they are ushered to the VIP section right away.

The club is quite crowded, much to Poppy’s chagrin, as she doesn’t always like such crowded places. She remembers how crowded Fallen Angel was several weeks ago, and this seems even worse. She scans the crowd from where she and Erdene are sitting, and notices several men, sitting on the other side of the lounge, wearing black suits who almost all have the same brand on their neck as Tora--the Balthuman “collar” as it were. _So this is a Clan place, I’m guessing? Sigh._

Suddenly, Erdene squeals, and runs off toward the group of men. Poppy now notices that it’s Damien who Erdene sees, and who she hooked up with at Fallen Angel. _There is obviously still some chemistry there._ _Good for her._

She notices Erdene is racing back over to her.

“Hey, Pops, looks who’s here--Damien! Anyways, I’m going to go dance with him, and who knows, maybe….”  
  
“It’s fine, Dene. You go ahead. I’ll get a drink and wait here for you.”

“Are you sure?”

“Really, it’s fine.”

_Dene just looks so happy to see Damien, how can I interfere? Let them reconnect._

Dene then walks rapidly back to Damien, and they in turn walk off into the crowd, towards the dance floor.

 _Hmpf. Okay, then, time for a drink._ She walks over to the bar, and orders a glass of white wine. The people around her are of course talking, and suddenly she hears something that makes her stand still.

It’s two Clan men, standing at the end of the bar, right next to where Poppy is standing. They look her up and down a bit, and leer, but they are also talking to each other.

“Yo, did you hear about Big Bro?”

“Ya, that’s something isn’t it. What’s the deal?”

“No one knows. I mean the dude is an animal, always gave me f*cking grief, the asshole, so good f*cking riddance.”

The guy he’s talking with snorts but replies, “That bastard can definitely f*ck off if you ask me. Clan’d be better off without his nasty ass, so I hope he never comes back.”

_What the fudge are they going on about? Never comes back? Good riddance?!?_

She decides to keep listening, but before they continue, a very buxom woman with bright pink hair walks up standing between her and the two men. They stop talking, paying more attention to her. Poppy notices she’s wearing a very revealing top and tight blue jeans, nothing as fancy as the rest of the crowd.

“Hey, Candy, what’s shaking? Can’t wait for yer show,” says the younger of the two men, smiling at her. He’s got a ring in his lower lip, a couple posts in his left eyebrow, and several more rings in both his ears. 

At first the pink-haired woman ignores him, but then turns and smiles at him. “Hey, Clyde, doin' great. Do you wanna party?”

He rolls his eyes and replies, “It’s Claude, honey. CLAUDE.” 

“Whatever… You wanna party?”

“Course. Lead the way.”

The woman seems vaguely familiar to Poppy, but she can’t quite place where she might have ever seen her before. Poppy grabs her wine while watching the interaction.

_She sure is...interesting._

Erdene and Damien then walk up to Poppy, and Erdene has a bit of a guilty look on her face.

“Um, Pops, would you be terribly upset if I hang out with Damien for a while? I mean, I know we promised to party, but, well….”  
  
“Dene, it's fine. I’ll just finish my drink, and take an Uber home. I’ll pick up my stuff at your house Saturday afternoon? Sunday?” 

_I don’t want to be here anyways._

Erdene gives Poppy a look of relief. “Thanks, sweetie! I owe you!” 

Poppy smirks back at her, nodding her head at Damien. 

_Of course you owe me you boney bitch!_

Poppy goes back to where she was standing before, opening the Uber app on her phone. She tries to get one, but there’s a substantial wait.  
  
_Fudge biscuits! I forget there are a lot of people who won’t even pick you up on Ares Street!_

She decides to look up taxis, and suddenly remembers a certain ginger-bearded taxi driver. She emails him and crosses her fingers. 

_What do I have to lose? I hope he remembers me!_

To her utter surprise, he actually emails her back within 15 minutes. He is technically off the clock, he says, but agrees to come pick her up, and will email her when he’s outside.

 _Awesome! One connection I’m glad I made. That gives me some time to finish my wine, and then I’ll make my way out the door._ _I know I don’t want to stand outside for any period of time, as it's Ares Street, even if he’s going to be out there waiting for me._

Blessedly, no one else bothers her while she waits. _Whew!_

What she doesn't realize, though, is that the second man still standing at the bar is watching her. He has long swept over bangs and a brand on his neck. Scharch. 

Twenty minutes later, she gets his email, walking out. She quickly takes off in the direction of the blocked street, and sure enough, there he sits, waiting for her. She walks up, getting ready to knock on the driver’s window, and he lowers it before she can.

“Hi, so glad you remember me!“

He smiles back at her, saying, “Hello, Poppylan. I was surprised to get your email. I just clocked off when I got your email, but, well, you know, I couldn’t live with myself if I left you on Ares Street!”

Poppy smiles back at him and gets into the back seat. Those memories of her riding in the cab mere months ago, and the aftermath of that night are just too powerful, and she doesn’t want to think about that night. She gives him her home address, again. He drives off, with Poppy wistfully looking out the window as Ares Street fades from her view.

++++++++++++++++++

**Day 18 - Saturday**

Poppy didn't really sleep well the night before, but ever predictable, is standing on the roof of her building, readying herself to paint again, as she's been trying to do every week. This time, she decided to paint an alternate version portrait of Ulaan and Yuwa, one based on her dream.

 _There is just something about them, something so… Alluring? Majestic? Fascinating? They sure are something,_ thinks Poppy. 

After making a light pencil sketch on her canvas, she starts painting, using the portrait saved on her phone to guide her. Slowly the face of Ulaan/Tora takes shape first. Instead of flowers on his neck, she adds the Balthuman brand. Instead of red eyes, she paints golden ones. 

_Why am I so fixated on them? I have to believe Tora is descended from Ulaan. I wonder if he’s even seen a portrait of Ulaan. If he ever comes back, I’ll have to show him._

That thought-- _if he ever comes back_ \--echoes in her mind, and she feels so emotional. She slips in that mode of thinking, again. 

_When something... nice comes into your life… you never want it to end. But nothing lasts forever. That’s just how life is. Sometimes things are just...inevitable._

She takes a deep breath, and goes back to painting, focusing on the face of herself/Yuwa next, to make the hair and eyes brown instead of black. She’s so engrossed in what she’s doing, she doesn’t finish until the sun is setting in front of her.

++++++++++++++++++

Gyu picks up the totes from Quincey, and returns to Tora’s apartment to pack things up. He unlocks the door, walking in, setting the totes down, and sighs heavily.

_This is just a f*cking mess. I don’t even know where to begin._

He decides to slowly walk through to look over the chaos again, so he can perhaps figure out a starting point. After about 10 minutes of scanning, he notices one of the drawers in the kitchen is tilted weirdly. 

_That, Big Bro, is a sign from you. This is where I’m gonna start._

Putting disposable gloves on his hands, he slowly pulls the drawer completely out of the cabinet it's in, it sticks a little but with some gentle pressure, it comes loose. Claude and Scharch have already dumped it’s contents onto the floor, of course, and he’ll pack that up eventually, but what he wants to examine is the bottom of the countertop, above where the drawer sits, to see if Tora has hidden something there. It’s a common place for hiding things, and he’s astounded to think that the two dolts working for Martin had missed this spot. 

Lo and behold, he hits the jackpot. He finds another burner there, taped to the very back. He puts the burner in his pocket, and examines the bottom of the drawer. At first he doesn’t see anything, but runs his fingers over the surfaces, being insanely thorough, and feels something in the middle, under the rail attached to the bottom. It’s a memory card under a piece of tan packing tape. It’s so well hidden you wouldn’t likely see it with your naked eyes. He carefully removes it, and places it on the counter. He’ll needs tweezers or something to tease the rest of the tape off the card, so as not to damage it. He keeps checking the rest of the kitchen, slowly, methodically. 

After another hour, he finds one more burner in the freezer, in a freezer bag wrapped in foil. Again, sloppy work by Claude and Scharch. He removes it from the foil, wraps it in a dishtowel, and places it in his other pocket. He keeps going. 

_It’s going to be a long day if I keep finding so much stuff. Are these things that Tora hid, or could they have been planted for me to find? Doesn’t matter--gotta check em out, either way._

Another two hours later, he’s done about all he can do for the day. He’s exhausted. He pulls out his own burner, texting Quincey.

GyuB @QuinceyB>> _yo, bro. At BBs place and found some shit. Have more to do but will get to it tomorrow let me know when i can come fill you in on GG_

QuinceyB @GyuB>> _ya? Fill me in tomorrow, say 11? Too early? Let me know._

GyuB @QuinceyB>> _11 conf c u then_

He signs off the burner, and stacks the two crates he managed to fill in the living room next to the shredded couch. 

_Another day, another dollar…. Whew. I hope you're okay, Big Bro, I really do._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, this is a slow moving story. Hang in there. Decided to distinguish use of burners by Gyu and Quincey, needing to make sure they are being extra careful.
> 
> And I have a collection of pictures of things I know Poppy would wear (and look good in), so I do have an idea of what her dress etc. would look like in this chapter.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	11. “Up all night... on another red eye”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poppy muses about what she views as similarities between Ulaan and Tora, and starts the process of looking into her own l family tree. Gyu and Quincey discuss the Giant Goldfish dirt uncovered, and the stuff Gyu found in his search of Tora's apartment. The Giant Goldfish trio laments the absence of Gil, yet again, and begin to suspect he's up to something.

**Day 19 - Sunday**

The next morning, Poppy wakes up suddenly, having slept hard. She didn’t have any dreams whatsoever, and still feels incredibly exhausted.

Yesterday, she was so wrapped up in painting that she completely forgot she left her purse at Erdene’s apartment. She texts Erdene, to be sure she’s home. If at all possible, she’d like to get her stuff back before the work week starts. 

Given it’s still relatively early, Erdene hasn’t replied yet. Worst case scenario? She brings Poppy’s bag into the office the next day. She has her most important stuff with her anyways. While waiting to get a response, Poppy sits and reads more chapters in the book on the royal family.

She becomes deeply engrossed in the reading, and before long, she’s finished the book. There were at least five more chapters that discuss the family in exile, those family members born after King Tsagaan. 

Ever curious, Poppy opens and boots up her laptop, doing a quick search of genealogy sites. She finds one of the most prominent ones and creates a free account. Conducting a search of the royal family, the site brings up a couple family names she never knew about. “Asura” is the name she uses for her search, the only one she knows about and expected to find. But there are a couple other ones she never heard of before nor expected--”Yeke” is one, another, is surprisingly “Noyouko.” 

_Huh. As in QB_ **_Noyouko_ ** _? It’s a royal family name? Coincidence? I’ll definitely have to ask Quincey about_ **_that_. **

She lies back on the floor, book clutched in her right hand, thinking even more. She’s just so stressed and a little overtired. 

She starts musing more about Ulaan’s life, before meeting Yuwa, and she believes there are a great deal of parallels to Tora; she feels he and Tora have more than a little bit in common, not just in their dark looks and tall physique, but personality wise, and with the things they’ve had to do. 

Ulaan was a feared fierce stoic “barbarian” king who Poppy believed was misunderstood. 

_He fought_ **_with_ ** _his subjects._ **_For_ ** _his subjects, not himself. They never detested him, they admired him. He was a warrior king for sure, but he fought because he felt it was his_ **_duty_** _, as king, not that he reveled in bloodshed and death. He did so to protect his citizens. He was not cruel. I can go on and on. Yuwa was his catalyst to change the landscape of the region. A muse? Maybe._

 _The same might be said for Tora_ , she thought, although she couldn’t confirm nor deny that Tora deals with death regularly. But Poppy feels marginally less naive now, even if Tora would never discuss such details with her, she had her suspicions, especially given his vanishing act.

 _Is he the same way? Is he misunderstood? Perhaps, but it’s more how he hides, doesn’t share or want anybody to know the “real” him. But I think he is kinda like Ulaan. I know he probably does bad things, but he’s such...such a regular guy, at least with me. I tried to tell him that! He is a good man, I sense he has a pure soul, but maybe he just doesn’t recognize it in himself? Is he in denial? I don’t think he likes what he does at all for the Clan. I’m pretty certain he despises it, but is he powerless to do anything about it? Is he_ **_forced_ ** _to do it? I think so, yes. And the way he’s always treated me is proof in the pudding. A good guy, perhaps one who is stuck in his own personal hell._

Her heart is just aching at these thoughts, and she doesn’t want to think about him anymore. So she gets up off the floor, getting back on her laptop, and starts another search for her own family, Wilkes, but there is not a lot there. She needs to talk to her Gran, to find out more. She knows her Gran’s maiden name, and her mother’s maiden name, but she wants to get more background from Gran herself, rather than reading half-assed information online. She’s visiting Gran--and Danae and Mirabelle--next weekend, so she’ll talk to Gran then.

_Pfft. I don’t have much else to do at this point. I may be grasping at straws, but all I can do is think, think, THINK._

Checking her phone again and seeing that Erdene _still_ has not texted her back, she gathers her painting supplies to finish her alternate portrait. There is not much left to do on it, as she finished so much of it the day before. All that’s left are some quick fixes and some tweaks, and feels satisfied. She leaves it to dry on the rooftop. She walks over to the ledge and sits down, staring out into the river as it slowly drifts by.

++++++++++++++++++

**Day 19 - Sunday**

At 11 the next day, Gyu shows up at Quincey’s to give him the scoop on what’s found out about Giant Goldfish, and to also give a report on what he’s found so far in the dregs of Tora’s apartment.

They sit down at the dining room table, where Quincey now has set up as a workstation, with manuscripts scattered on one end. He doesn’t have that many guests anyways, so what the hell. Smithy sits in the living room, watching something on television.

“So a lot of what I found is interesting, bro. You know, of course that GG got a huge investment, a big payday from Mr. Lam, and then they signed you on, of course.”

“Yes, I know all of this.” Quincey naturally knows what GG means, haha. And he’s feeling a bit sentimental at Poppy’s fortitude in seeking him out, even with Tora’s warnings, and signing that contract, sight unseen. _The rest is history isn’t it._

“Ya, bro, but in truth? The company is now practically bankrupt. I found evidence that Gil has been embezzling money, to pay off gambling debts, and I'm guessing it's owed to the Clan. He has probably has a hit out on him. He's basically been in hiding, practically since Lam’s check cleared.”

 _Well,_ **_that_ ** _is not what I expected. At all. With this tidbit, Quincey takes his inquiry into a new direction._

“What’s the breakdown of the ownership? Is there sole ownership? A board?” Quincey honestly didn’t know.

“There is a board, and Gil owns 49%.”

 _Huh._

Quincey had a thought, a daring one, but with Gil’s bullshit, he feels a bit out of options. For a long time he had the thought to create his own publishing company, and this just might be the opportunity he’s been looking for. 

_I’ve hesitated long enough, dammit, and if this isn’t a sign, I don’t know what would be._

“OK, boo boo. I have an idea, based on something I've been thinking about for some time, but first, I need you to find out the solvency of the organization. What would it take me to buy it outright, or at minimum, buy out the board?”

If he could do that, he would then own the majority share. _Then_ he can confront Gil and buy him out too. Given his situation, Gil would be a fool not to sell. Quincey hated the Clan, but if he didn't have the best business sense, then he'd eat a plate of shit. His indoctrination to the Clan had been less than normal anyways.

 _T_ _o hell with the blood and guts, just give me a chance to make a plan. Come up with a plot. I'm good._ _Real good. Father has no clue about my skills, and I'm going to keep it that way._

Even though it’s likely the Clan would still whack Gil, he's going to go forward.

_That’s Martin’s domain, that asshole. He can have 'em._

But he’s not going to share that fact with Gil, the fool. So then he could, de facto, own his own publishing company after all. The prospect of it is actually kind of exciting.

“I don’t think that information is public knowledge, at least I didn't find anything about it when I checked, so I’ll do my usual hacking.”

“Great. Let me know as soon as you find anything out. I want to move as quickly as possible. Now what did you find in the apartment?”

“I did my usual sweep. I found his burner, so that’s good. But I found some other stuff that I have back at my place, stuff that I need to look into more.”  
  
“Oh, and what’s that?”  
  
“First, I found two more burners. This is suspect, as I’m the only one who ever gives him burners, and he goes through them like potato chips. He always gives me the broken ones to dispose of. I always destroy them, so it doesn't make any sense for him to keep old ones. I’m thinking they are part of something he has hidden even from me, from us, or they are plants.”

Quincey nods, the tech stuff is beyond him, but it is worrying. 

_What the hell could all that even mean? Keeping stuff from_ **_us_** _? Christ, he may be an ornery f*ck and is less than expressive, but he tells me everything, even the smallest bit of whatever, as long as I ask about it._

“And I found a memory card. It was so well hidden, that I almost missed it. I have to load it up on my own encrypted card reader, and I’ll let you know if anything is on it. I filled two of the totes, and I need to go back and finish my sweep and pack up the rest of his stuff. That’s it for now, bro.”

Just more mysteries revealed, and less answers, at least as far as Tora is concerned.

++++++++++++++++++

**Day 20 - Monday**

Poppy, Erdene, and Jacob are all sitting in the conference room, as they prepare for the weeks’ staff meeting. Gil, ever absent, is going to participate virtually, again. He hasn’t come into the office for some time, since before Quincey signed his contract. But he’s the boss, so they can’t really do anything. Poppy and Erdene both have their suspicions, and are wary what might be really going on with him. 

Jacob boots up his laptop, connecting to the WiFi, and opens the conferencing software. Now they’re just waiting for Gil to sign on. 

“So, are we gonna talk about it?” asks Poppy.

“What do you mean?” No surprise, as Jacob is likely clueless as ever, but then again...

Poppy rolls her eyes. _Erdene knows what I want to talk about._

“I’m talking about the fact that Gil has not set foot back here in Giant Goldfish proper, not since we got the money from Lam and Quincey signed his contract. The last time we all saw him in person was when he asked about that blank notebook.”

“Oh yeah, right. That was pretty strange, wasn’t it. I know he has been making the circuit in conventions and stuff, but I never really cared. I know Quincey was asking about him recently.” Jacob likes being in charge when Gil is gone, so he’s a happy camper.

Before they can continue their discussion, Jacob’s laptop dings, signalling that Gil is connecting. 

“We need to talk about this, and soon.”

Gil logs on, greeting them all, but Poppy notices he looks haggard and unkempt. 

_What’s going on Gil?_

The meeting starts, and they each give an update, but Gil doesn’t share anything. The meeting only lasts about 15 minutes. Gil logs off promptly, despite the fact that Jacob is part way through asking a question.

The abruptness of him disconnecting makes them all a bit upset. They sit there quietly, each looking at the other. 

“Okay, I think you might be onto something, Poppy. Now I’m thinking something is definitely going on with him.” The fact that Jacob is now very much alert to what just happened, to how odd Gil acted just moments before, is of concern.

_What indeed are you up to, Gil?_

++++++++++++++++++

The day progresses, and all of them at Giant Goldfish are fully engrossed in work. 

At noon, Poppy decides to take a walk, needing some fresh air. Just as she leaves, Erdene hears the PING of an incoming text on her phone. It’s a group message to the Proj. P.P.C. Erdene giggles, and is thankful Poppy is not around.

Mirabelle @Proj. P.P.C.>> _Yo, Dene. We’re coming to Moonbright to visit Gran & Poppyseed this weekend. Any news to report on the PPC front? _

Erdene @Proj. P.P.C.>> _Really? Good. Woman needs a distraction right now. #truth have some news tho. Brace yourself ladies. New dude on the scene and is a_ _majestic f*ckable stallion, y'all. He. Is. HOT. 🔥 Let me show you. Pic does not do him justice. There is po·ten·ti·al·i·ty for him to erase that douche canoe from her brain. Narin City is not the famine I claimed it to be. For real._

Dene hits “send” and then prepares to send them a picture, _the_ picture. 

It’s a covert photo she took while at the joint birthday party, one that she’s never shown to Poppy, and probably never will. It’s a photo of Tora and Poppy amongst a crowd of people at the Fallen Angel. It’s when they were all standing at the bar, ordering drinks. He’s standing in the background, and he is flat out _staring_ at Poppy who is in the foreground. Erdene thinks he has an obvious expression of lust on his face, and she was there and witnessed it. That’s why she took the picture, for cripes sake! After the discussion she and Poppy had minutes before, about Poppy insisting that he couldn't have the slightest interest in her, Erdene wanted the evidence, this evidence that it is far from the truth. She remembered that he called out to Poppy, trying to get her attention, but Poppy didn’t notice or hear him. _Is she really that clueless, that he is so obviously_ **_hot_ ** _for her? I don’t know. We haven’t talked much since that night. But the girls, Proj. P.P.C., must have this knowledge!_

Erdene @Proj. P.P.C.>> _witness the stallion, ladies. Discuss and ask her about ‘em this weekend.😉_

She watches her phone and then the bubbles appear, as she waits for one of the two to text her back. She thinks this pairing has substantial potential—it’s just that Pops is still reeling from her breakup with Julri. But Erdene has a hunch it’s reciprocal, and they are sweet on each other. She has hope, after all.

Mirabelle @Proj. P.P.C.>>🥵🥵🥵🥵🥵🥵🥵

All those “hot” emojis make Dene laugh her ass off.

Danae @Proj. P.P.C.>> _Damn, Poppyseed is holding out on us!!! There is hope for her yet! We will be definitely asking her about him. But we all know how the little squishee gets when we ask her about boys. We know how much that dick Julri hurt her. That and she freaks when we ask her about about, well, you_ _know. Her sex life._

Erdene @Proj. P.P.C.>> _No rest for the wicked. DO IT. Just don’t show her the pic, tho. I’m keeping that secret for now. Project PPC just might be back on track, ladies._

Mirabelle @Projc. P.P.C.>> _K. More later. TTYL._

Erdene smiles to herself. _Yes, I’m gonna make sure PPC is_ _**definitely** back on track. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 20? Seems like it took *forever* to get to this day. Anyways, it is a slow developing story for sure, but soon, SOON I will go the route of Lost and have a flash forward or two, only because I don’t want people to freak out about it—I know you all want to know: “Where in the world is Tora”?? 😉


	12. “I wish we never learned to fly”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poppy receives the book she ordered on the Clan, but it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. She genuflects a bit, having a self-epiphany—vowing to put herself first as much as possible. Gyu finds Tora’s car, far away from Narin City. Poppy and Quincey make plans to host a visit with Mr. Lam.

**Day 21 - Tuesday**

It’s another workday at Giant Goldfish, and despite yesterday’s meeting, Jacob, Erdene, and Poppy do not discuss it, nor what might be going on with Gil. Poppy tries several times to bring it up with both of them, separately, but they simply refuse, saying they don’t want to talk about it. 

She travels home that night, and is happy to find the book she ordered on the history of the Clan has arrived in the mail. 

Grabbing the rather thin package, she rushes up the stairs, unlocking her door hurriedly.

 _It’s rather...sparse isn’t it,_ she remarks to herself, as she rips the cardboard open. And it is disappointing. It’s more a picture book than a manuscript, a real book. Not that she doesn’t love picture books, she has a few art books on her bookshelf, after all.

The book has a large Balthuman Clan crest on the front cover, and she flips through the few pages there are, a bit dejectedly. She puts it on her short table, deciding she’s going to hold judgement until she can really sit and pay attention to what she's reading. 

She heads off into her bathroom and takes her work clothes off. She pulls out and puts on one of her favorite pajama sets—the ones with the “donut ask me any questions” on the shirt, and all kinds of little dancing donuts on the pink shorts. She wants comfort tonight. 

_Pfft. I always want comfort don’t I._

She heats up some leftover stir fry for her supper, taking it outside, sitting and eating it in silence on her balcony, while watching the sun set over Narin River. She feels particularly weepy, but not sure why. 

_It’s been three weeks, that’s why. Sigh. Where the fudge is the joy in your life, Poppylan?_

But, she actually starts to psyche herself up, and suck it up a little bit.

_Ack! What are you doing to yourself?_

She starts to think of all the stuff that’s happened to her in the last three months, all the good things. And, well, there is a lot for her to list.

_For fudge sakes, I just signed a world famous writer to a three-year contract, the biggest deal I could have ever made—did make—in my career. I have a job I friggin love, good friends, and… and…. Yes, I met HIM._

She sobs a bit, because, well, that’s life. 

_Yes, I do have a hole in my heart, I know, but that’s only because I purged that rat bastard creep Julri out. He took up way too much real estate there, if you ask me. Now I’m becoming more myself now, am myself more than I have been in years. My heart is healing, bit by bit._

She continues to gaze out over the river, arms crossed, rubbing her hands up and down her arms. 

_Just a little self-soothing, yes?_

She smiles and wipes the few tears that had slowly crept down her face while she sat there.

 _I know I need to take a bit more time to fill it back up, fill the hole, the_ **_aching_ ** _hole, and to do it for me, and me alone. I know there are losses in life, that there are disappointments, and always will be. But I am alive, I have a roof over my head. I just need to take care of myself._

Taking a deep break, she goes back inside, locking the balcony door behind her.

_Don’t do it, Poppylan, don’t think about it. Get back on track, girl._

It’s just a flash of memory, and before she succumbs to it, she gets back on track and pushes it out of her mind.

She grabs the Clan book off the table, then sits down in her bed hunkering down in the comforter, and opens it. She skims the table of contents, and there are only about five chapters. The first chapter is about Baron Ivan Balthuman II, the man who deposed King Tsagaan, and each subsequent chapter covers eras, rather than other Clan leaders. The most recent chapter only covers up to about 1970. Disappointing.

She still reads it, cover to cover, looking closely at all the photos. Nearly every Clan leader depicted has white blond hair and blue eyes. What a contrast to the dark raven colored hair and mostly dark eyes of Ulaan and his progeny of the royal family.

_I really wanted to find out more about how Ivan specifically overthrew the monarchy. Guess I have to keep searching. And I need to figure out how I might approach Quincey to perhaps talk to someone in the Clan. Do they have their own historian?_

She knows that the stuff with Clan, _anything_ to do with the Clan, makes Quincey incredibly uncomfortable, so any attempts to talk with him will need to be nuanced and well thought out. She also contemplates that it might even be the right time to ask him who the second family might be, as he revealed before, after that text conversation with Lam revealed he was not just Baby Thug Quincey, not just QB Noyouko, but Quincey Balthuman, who is not just Balthuman Clan heir, either, but heir to two mafia families. 

_Time for you to reveal your secrets, Quincey. I’ve been patient long enough._

++++++++++++++++++

Gyu sits at his laptop, staring at the results that just popped up on his screen. He’s a bit shocked, stunned at what he’s discovered. He’s found Tora’s car. The search didn’t seem to take any time at all, which he found strange, but he’s also thankful. It was the first chance he’s had to sit down and actually get to work in a couple days, given what he’d found in Tora’s apartment, so he tried. And succeeded. 

It’s in Chīsana, a small town about two hundred miles away from Narin City.

_I need to get my ass out there, ASAP. If I can leave at dawn tomorrow morning, I’ll get there by 10 am. That’ll give me some time to crack the onboard computer, download the data, and conduct a moderately paced physical search in the car itself._

He has to leave as early as possible, as he has a shift at the Black Swam. That and he knows the clock is ticking, as he has to covertly arrive before Scharch and Claude can discover the car themselves.

_Big bro, you’ve been gone three weeks. I’m so happy to find anything, something that might help us find you._

Gyu texts Quincey that he’s taking a short day trip in the morning, nothing elaborate, and hopes Quincey remembers to check his burner with some sort of regularity. He’s not going to reveal anything via text yet. He wants to get some rest, so he can be fresh in the morning when he leaves.

He hears a PING, seeing Quincey send a quick acknowledgement. 

++++++++++++++++++

Poppy has dozed off while reading the Clan book, and her phone is going off, even though it’s on vibrate mode. She stirs, and grabs it, looking to see who may be calling. It simply says UNKNOWN NUMBER. For whatever reason, she decides to answer.

“Hello?”

Silence. There is nothing. No background noise, no breathing, nothing.

“Hello, is anyone there?”

Still silence. But then hears a very low click, as someone disconnects.

_Huh._

Shivers go down her spine, as the eerie call creeps her the fudge out. 

_Who the hell could that have been?_ _Why did I even answer? You know, why Poppylan, get a grip. Sigh._

It’s definitely an unknown number, of course, from a town in the region she’s never heard of. Spam call? Robo-call? Perhaps. Not like she has debt collectors hounding her either. But usually those annoying robocalls aren’t so silent. They are generally quite annoying. 

But she doesn’t give the call another thought. She places the Clan book on the floor next to her bed, turns off her bedside lamp, rolling over to go back to sleep, not giving it another thought.

++++++++++++++++++

**Day 22 - Wednesday**

Gyu manages to get a good night's rest, despite his eagerness to get on the road to Chīsana. It’s going to be a bit of a challenge, as he knows it’s in a police impound lot.

He packs up his gear, specifically his mobile hack kit, a smaller, mobile jammer, gloves, other tools, and the spare clicker for Tora’s car. Thankfully, it’s not the only spare key that Tora keeps at Quincey’s.

_F*cking genius idea. I need to do that, too. I’ll talk to him about it._

The drive takes four and a half hours, and he arrives in the small town at 10:45 am. 

_F*ck I’m going be cutting it close, but I need to do this, whether I’m late for work or not. I simply need to get to it first, before those incompetent f*cks do._

He doesn’t believe they have found it--yet. He’ll share the find with Martin, eventually, but needs to check it all out thoroughly, first. 

He finds the police impound, and searches for any nearby traffic cameras. He doesn’t find any, as it is a small town after all, but the police impound has at least one camera running. He’ll zap that one, so he can climb over the back fence to do his thing. 

Within 30 minutes, he’s found the car, and it looks pristine. Not a scratch. He is careful, even though he’s already disabled the camera. Even though he’s wearing a mask, he knows he needs to be on alert, to be sure no attendants are on duty, or that anyone discovers him at all. 

Putting his gloves on, he manages to crawl under the car, connecting to the computer box on the axle between the two front wheels. Luckily it’s one of those cars where it is in an accessible spot. Some of them are buried under the engine, nearly impossible to access without either a certified mechanic or taking the entire engine out. Modern technology can actually suck at times.

He manages to connect and upload all the data from the onboard box to his secure cloud account. He’ll access it at home and analyze it when he can. Now, he has to do the physical search. Before he moves out from under the car, he scans the frame. No trackers, no contraband, he doesn’t find anything. Tora doesn’t really deal with the actual merchandise moved by the Clan, but he doesn’t put anything past Martin at this point. He moves back out from under it, and prepares to unlock the car.

Unfortunately the clicker is one that chirps, and hopefully no one will hear it. The car has one of those security systems where you have to use the clicker. If you unlock it with the key, it will set off the alarm. He most definitely does NOT want that to happen.

He hits the button on the remote, hearing the car’s requisite BEEP-BEEP. 

_Loud as f*ck if you ask me. Nothing I can do about it._

He then waits for almost a half a minute to be sure no one appears. Thankfully, no one does. He opens the passenger side door, and first searches under the seats. His heart sinks when he sees that Tora’s glock is still in place under the passenger seat, where he always stashes it. 

_Not good, big bro, not good._

He takes it out of its holster, keeping an eye out for any ammo stashed there as well, but doesn’t notice any. He makes sure the safety is still on, and places the gun in his backpack. He doesn’t want Claude or Scharch to have it, as they’d likely take it and use it to frame him for something, anything while he’s missing.

Next he moves to the glove box, there is a clip there, so he takes it, but otherwise, there is nothing there but the usual shit, stuff that doesn’t matter. He pulls the lever to open the trunk while he’s on the floor, so when he’s done inside the car, he can swiftly scan the trunk, basically the last place he’ll look before he leaves. 

He next looks under the driver’s seat and then the back. Tora is pretty fastidious about cleaning things up, so much of the rest of the inside of the car is spotless. Gyu thought about wiping all the surfaces down, to get rid of any fingerprints, but thinks better of it. If Martin does find it, he’d be suspicious if Tora’s own prints were nowhere to be found. Gyu wishes he had some sort of tech that could scan for them anyways, but there’s only the low tech option, and he cannot do that—he can’t leave behind the dust, nor does he have the time to do it anyways.

Most of what he finds in Tora’s trunk is the usual stuff he’s always keeps there--a variety of disposal supplies, an old rifle, no ammo for it though, a duffle with extra clothes, and a small hidden compartment under the spare tire, and that’s empty. 

He hasn’t locked the car yet, as he wants to do one more visual scan, from the outside looking in, as one more backup. He quietly shuts the trunk, and gets started with it.

He slowly scans, but knows he needs to get back on the road. He’s just about ready to hit the lock button when he sees something that makes him feel even worse than finding the glock. 

It’s Tora’s cigarettes, sitting in the cup holder. Is it an omen, or just coincidence? Gyu is not so sure which it is.

++++++++++++++++++

Poppy calls Quincey at 10:30 sharp. She’d been putting the call off. Mr. Lam texted Poppy last week, saying he will be in town the weekend after next, and would like to have dinner with them. 

She hits the call button on her cell, and Quincey picks up after four long rings.

“Sugar pops! Morning love, how are you?”

“I’m fine, Quincey.” 

She’s okay, but not particularly chipper that morning, despite her self-illuminating session on the balcony the previous night, that and all the things she wants to ask Quincey.

“Anyways, Mr. Lam is going to be in town Saturday after next (DAY 32). He wants to have dinner with us. Is your schedule clear that night?”

“It should be, hon. Let me look.”

She hears him make some noises, not sure what he's even looking at, but waits for him to get back on the line.

“Sure, I can make it. Where do you want to take him?”

“Wherever you want. I don’t care in the slightest.”

“Hmmm, let’s do Clarks. K?”

“Sure.”

“Poppy, I’m still sensing you are upset. What’s going on?”

“Nothing, really. I do have some things I want to talk with you about, but now is not the time.”

“Oh, right. Whatever, you’ve got my digits, so ring me when you want to talk. I’m always available for you, you know.”

Poppy is thankful for him telling her that, she’s just feeling so off that morning. That and she honestly was hoping Quincey might suggest taking Lam somewhere else than Clark’s. 

“Right.”

“OK, spill, Poppylan. I can hear something in your voice. Tell me what’s got your knickers in a knot.”

Poppy sniggers at his use of such an archaic phrase. 

_Really, Quince? Only a writer would use a phrase like that._

“It’s just…. Sigh. It’s just that Clark’s is not my preferred spot to go to right now.”

“Why ever not?”

“Did I ever tell you that is where I met Mr. Lam for the first time?”

“No, you actually haven’t mentioned it to me.”

“Yeah, and I have a lot of other memories, ones I…” She stops, as she’s suddenly emotional again.

“I remember seeing a lot of men wearing black suits, I think they were Clan men.”

“Probably were. That’s a common Clan gathering spot, Pops. You didn’t know that?”

“No, not really.”

She decides she has to stop bringing Tora up, especially since Quincey won’t talk about him, and has to stop perseverating about him. His absence is difficult enough. The fact that Quincey won’t talk either, makes it doubly hard. So she doesn’t say a thing about him.

“OK, well, are you still good with taking Lam there? It might be favorable to him, if you say you took him there before.”

_You may be right, Quince. But those memories from that day are going to bombard me if we go there, I know they will._

“We have a little time to make a decision about it later. We also have to consider maybe he has his own ideas of where he wants to go.”

“True. Well, I have to go, now. Talk later?”

“Sure.”

She hangs up on him, not even knowing if he says anything else to her. 


	13. “Maybe we should just try, to tell ourselves a good lie”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> But GPS data never lies, which Gyu and Quincey find out, unfortunately. Poppy gets another weird phone call and escapes to Moonbright for the weekend.

**Day 23 - Thursday**

Gyu got home from his shift late the night before, exhausted, deciding to spend most of the next day decoding the data from Tora’s car. He can tell the compiling will take some time, as it’s mostly numbers to be translated into some sort of usable form. After waking up, he starts the decryption program then gets in the shower.

Four hours later, he checks the program to see it’s still processing the data. It’s estimating four more hours until it’s complete.

_This shit work always drags. F*ck._

He is too agitated to sit and wait, watching the clock slowly tick down. He has to find _something_ that will be more productive than this. He decides to leave the program running, and goes back to Tora’s apartment for more recon and packing.

++++++++++++++++++

Four hours later, Gyu is back home, just sitting down in front of his laptop, watching the clock timer wind down to zero. He managed to finish the sweep of the apartment, packing the rest. Grueling methodical work, of course, but blessedly, he did not find anything else of substance. He and Quincey are already planning to re-examine every bit of material, no matter how small, together. They both know how they can’t leave one piece unexamined.

As he takes a big sip of his energy drink, the alert blares, telling him the scan is complete. 

_Next step? Cleaning it up so I can read it. This should be—will be a snap. Simple search and replace function, to insert some space between entries._

The search and replace function only takes what, 5 minutes, not even? _Sweet!_

But now, now he has to find the data from the day Tora was last seen, the day he was with Poppy. Then, it will give him something helpful, likely GPS data every 10 seconds, maybe less? Every car has a different refreshment cycle, so he just has to figure it out. He works steadily into the evening, and finally he has a little bit of data, and it’s remarkable.

He can of course confirm the car was parked outside of Poppy’s apartment for several hours. Then it began to move to a warehouse, one located in a remote part of the Narin River. Then the data gets...interesting. Gyu doesn’t know what to make of this, but it’s not good.

He’s astounded to find out how for several days, it remained at that GPS location, outside that warehouse at the riverside docks for quite some time after he disappeared. In fact, it had only arrived in Chīsana the day before he discovered it there. This made Gyu’s skin crawl, making him highly suspicious. 

He picks up his phone, calling Quincey on his burner. He has to tell him about the other stuff he found anyways, but this? This is f*cking bizarre. Quincey doesn’t pick up right away, likely because the burner is either off or for some other reason. Not really relaxed, he leaves a voicemail message, hoping he doesn’t sound too panicked.

“Bro, got some news. Gotta fill you in about the car. Can you call me?”

_Christ, I think I’m gonna throw up._

++++++++++++++++++

Poppy is just busy enough she can’t think of anything beyond going home and sleeping. Seriously, Quincey and his beta readings are fun, but exhausting. 

_The man is so fudging randy, and the stuff he comes up with? Whew! But I can take it. I’m actually kind of happy that I’m so tired. Then I don’t have to think._

But thinking about not having to think makes her sad. _Oh fudge, that didn’t work, did it._

Before she falls further into her funk, her phone starts ringing. 

_Who the fudge can that be at 9 at night on Thursday?_

UNKNOWN NUMBER.

Shit. She knows she really shouldn’t answer, but, but….

_But what if it’s him? What if he needs me?_

She knows Erdene will yell at her, but what Erdene doesn’t know, Erdene doesn’t know.

She swipes the phone to answer.

“Hello?”

Silence. Again. No background noise, no breathing. This time she notices a bit of a hiss, maybe of an open line?

“Hello?”

Still silence. The hiss continues on for another 10 seconds or so. Finally, the low click, disconnecting the call.

_Huh. Twice in one week? Should I be worried?_

Again, an unknown number, but a different town this time. A lot like a robo-call, but no one spoke.

_I need to find out more about these types of calls. Make sure I’m on the Do Not Call list. Do I know any tech nerds I can ask? Jacob maybe?_

She sets the alarm on her phone, and gets ready for bed. It will have to wait until tomorrow.

++++++++++++++++++

Gyu is just about ready to go to bed when Quincey finally texts him on his burner.

QuinceyB @GyuB>>boo boo, sorry i didn’t pick up. B phone turned off. Whoops 😋 What ya got?

GyuB @QuinceyB>>got to the car. Maybe you can call me ya? Lot of stuff to txt to u

QuinceyB @GyuB>>k. Give me sec.

Within 10 seconds, the phone rang, and Gyu answers.

“Thanks, bro. My fingers are grateful. I’ve been on the computer for about 8 hours today.”

“Oh my. Anyways, give me the scoop on the car. You found it OK?”

“Ya, it’s pristine. I got in, dumped the data no prob. No tracking devices or stashes underneath. But I did find something.”

“Tell me. Just keep going. Good or bad, we need something, anything.”

“Right. First, the glock was there.”

Gyu heard the sharp intake of Quincey’s breath at that fact. _He knows that’s not good._

“Had a clip in the glove box. Some typical stuff in the trunk. Rifle, disposal shit, standard duffle. Compartment in back empty. Nothing else unexpected. Don’t think Martin or his boys know about the car, yet. Do we tell him or not? Oh, and one last thing, you tell me if this is substantial: had a pack of cigs in the cup holder.”

Quincey is quiet, taking in all this information. 

“Cigarettes? I don’t know. You said he was summoned by Father? If so, I’d think it would be likely he’d take his smokes with him. I know doing that shit f*cking makes him nuts. He doesn’t tell me any of the details, but I always know how bat-shit crazy he gets when he has to go. For now, let’s be cautiously optimistic.”

“Right. Then there is the data from the car.”

Gyu pauses because he is still so upset.

“Go on.”

“I’ll spare you the details on how it works, but basically it gives GPS locations in bursts, like every 3 to 5 seconds, whatever the model might have in its specs. Tora’s car was shown to be at Poppy’s for a while, then it leaves. The timing matches the text information I’ve already found. But what is concerning, bro, is that it stops at the Sōko warehouse on the riverfront. It remained there up until the day before I found it Chīsana.”

“Oh my f*cking god, Gyu.”

“Exactly, bro. Exactly. Anyways, we will probably have to tell Martin about how we found the car, but not sure about what else to tell him. I think we should keep quiet about the GPS data and not tell him about finding the gun and clip. I grabbed them, as I didn’t want Claude or Scharch to frame him for anything when he’s not here to defend himself.”

“Agreed. I think we need to visit the warehouse and soon. What else needs to be done, tech wise?”

_Always something tech wise in this world, isn’t there, boo boo._

“Next up, I need to hack the traffic cam data. It will depend on how often they recycle their footage. We may be too late for that, but there is also the chance he got a ticket. That will stay in the system.”

“OK. Let’s not worry about what we’re going to tell Martin until next week. I want us to go to the warehouse, tomorrow? Saturday? Which day best for you?”

“Let me think. I need to check my shifts for the weekend. Can I let you know later? Oh, and I went back to the apartment. Didn’t find anything else, and everything packed in crates. I can bring them over next time we have a scheduled visit.”

“Sure, boo boo, I know it’s late. Text me whatever. I don’t have anything planned this weekend, no dates for the foreseeable future. My love life sucks.”

“You and me both, bro. More later.”

+++++++++++++++++

**Day 24 - Friday**

Another Friday, and no Gil. Poppy decides she’s going to take the afternoon off, go home and finish packing, and it’s off to the train station to make her way to Moonbright. 

She’s traveling to visit Granny for the weekend, and is so excited that she’s going to see her cousins who are in town. Since attending flight attendant classes, she’s only gotten a text or two from them, and a few video calls, including the one on her birthday. It will be so good to see them in person for a change.

By six, she’s in her seat, luggage in the rack above her, and she’s watching “Bleach” on her phone. 

She recalls this is one the few shows she and Julri watched together, a few years ago. He talked during it constantly, so Poppy would always have to go back and rewatch any of those episodes. 

_Annoying fudging dick._

She suddenly realizes that the last time she rode the train to Moonbright, she was traveling to visit Julri, excited and anxious to see him. That day, that vivid memory of finding him, lipstick all over his face, pants askew, and that _skank_ Mimi, and then she’s just realized that day, that fateful day actually turned out to be one that changed her life, for the good.

In retrospect, after three months--and meeting Tora--she can now see it was a blessing in disguise. But that man, that creep is still affecting her—-still influencing her self-esteem. She’s working on it, Tora has helped too—bless him—but years of being in such a toxic relationship is not something easy to manage, nor something that magically gets better. She’s been cleansing her soul, getting lots of that emotional validation, too.

She decides that she needs to do more cleansing, and not just spiritual cleansing either. And she needs company to do it. She pulls out her phone, and sends a group text.

MsEditor/Pops @Quincey/Quincess @Dene/Dene Bean>>yo its me. On way to Moonbright. I know you'll both miss my ass. Anyways, when I get back, we need to declare a spa day. U in? 🍷👑💄💅🏽

Quincey/Quincess @MsEditor/Pops @Dene/Dene Bean>>oh you are so on, Ms Editor. Maybe next weekend? Or we can convince Gil it’s a work related retreat? 

MsEditor/Pops @Quincey/Quincess @Dene/Dene Bean>>🤷🏼dude is MIA today. TBD? 

Dene @Quincey/Quincess @Pops>>f*ck yes woman. Let’s do it. Tell D&M Dene sez 👋 

MsEditor/Pops @Quincey/Quinces @Dene/Dene Bean>>affirmative. More soon. TTFN

She laughs long and hard at their text exchange. God they are just such good friends. I need more of that, for sure. She needs to remember to tell them both that she really wants to go to one of those places that scrape your skin, as she figuratively wants to slough off the memory of Julri and his f*ckery.

As the train rolls on, Poppy drifts off to sleep, dreaming of one of the best—and worst—days of her life, so far. She doesn’t realize how for the first time in weeks, she thought of Tora and wasn’t sad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry all, this is late and a little shorter than normal. Next chapter will be Moonbright centric, so buckle up, sisters and brothers!


	14. “I didn't mean to make you cry”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> During her visit to Moonbright, Poppy spends some quality time with Danae and Mirabelle; Poppy sees Julri for the first time since that horrible day. And Julri is more than just a memory, he’s still a fudging jerk. Quincey gets a visit from dear old dad. Gyu and Quincey take a crack at accessing the memory card found at Tora's apartment, and make plans to visit the Sōko warehouse.

**Day 24 - Friday**

Poppy’s train arrives at the station in Moonbright right on time, and Granny is sitting there waiting for her to disembark. Poppy runs up to her and gives her a big hug, and, to Gran’s surprise, starts to cry.

“Oh, my dear Poppylan, why are you crying?” _She’s not crying over that no dick putz, is she?_

“It’s nothing really, Gran. Just really miss you.” 

_Whew._ She doesn’t want to tell Gran how she’s weepy because she just remembered the last time she took a train to Moonbright, to visit Julri. She _wants_ to burn the memory of that fudging creep out her mind.

“Well, I am so happy you are here! Danae and Mirabelle won’t arrive for a couple hours, so you won’t likely see them until you wake up in the morning.”

Poppy sniffs a bit, but doesn’t respond.

_Sigh. This girl…._

“Let’s get you home, Poppylan. I want to make you some tea, and we can watch _My Neighbor Totoro_ , yes? Your favorite?”

Poppy smiles at that. “Yes, Gran. That sounds heavenly, both the tea and the movie. And...maybe some ice cream, too?”

“You know I can’t tell you no, love.” Gran gives her a big smile. 

They walk out the station to Gran’s car to make their way to Gran's little yellow house.

++++++++++++++++++

**Day 25 - Saturday**

Poppy wakes up, smelling bacon and eggs. Walking into the kitchen, Danae, Mirabelle, and Granny are all there, rushing to get the kitchen table set, murmuring amongst themselves.

“Good morning!” Poppy says loudly, knowing it will startle them.

They indeed all jump at the sound of her voice.

“Poppy!” Danae and Mirabelle yell, as they both rush over and jump on her at the same time, knocking them all over onto the kitchen floor. 

“Oh, I have been so looking forward to seeing you, lil Poppy Seed Muffin!” blurts out Danae.

Poppy laughs out loud at this new affectation. 

“I’ve missed you guys, too. Video calling just doesn’t cut it, really.”

Shaking her head, Gran interrupts them.

“Alright young ladies, let’s sit and eat before the food gets cold. You have the whole day to catch up, too, you know.”

Getting up out of their puppy pile, and they all sit down, filling their plates, talking about what they want to do with the little time they have.

++++++++++++++++++

After a full day of gossiping, drinking, and fun with her cousins, Poppy is convinced that her cousins are more than likely to shift the topic of discussion, forcing her to face subjects that she could no longer avoid, specifically questions about her love life, post-Julri.

“So…. Pops… Have you found a new man, you know, to replace Mr. Non-Existent Weiner?”

Poppy is grateful Granny isn’t in around, as she promised her months again that she was NOT seeing any new “boys.” 

_Well, technically it's true. We aren’t really a couple…and he is NOT a boy... but..._

“Well, um, not really guys. I mean, I told Gran no new boys. And… and I have been working to spend some time by myself. I haven’t _been_ myself for a long time; I need to focus on myself for awhile. Julri, he…. he…”

Poppy stumbles and mumbles, mostly because she didn’t want to rehash those events and things yet again—finding Julri in Mimi’s clutches, the gaslighting, and….meeting HIM. 

He's made her feel the opposite. He lets her express herself, acknowledges her feelings, and loves her rice balls. Hell, despite the fact she hurt him, he didn't walk away **and** let her have some time. And that’s just a start. But she’s still coping. She's getting better, thanks to him, but she has a ways to go.

Poppy is now very quiet and solemn, and Danae and Mirabelle feel a little concerned. 

“No need to continue about _him,_ Poppy. We know all about it. And it’s so healthy for you to take care of yourself. But if you, I don’t know, met someone who could help you, or even distract you a little bit... I hope you wouldn’t pass up an opportunity if it presented itself.”

Mirabelle always made her feel better, but she doesn’t want to tell them anything else, at least not yet. 

Poppy smiles, but decides not to say anything more. She doesn’t want to admit it, but Tora’s disappearance has actually made some of those feelings resurface, doubting herself, that she’s done something wrong. She needs to rise out of that dark thinking, as there is so much she doesn’t know.

_Doesn’t make me any less sad though..._

“Hey, it’s time for us to go.” Danae broke the silence first.

They had already planned to eat at the Moonbright Diner, so they piled into Granny’s car and drove off. 

++++++++++++++++++

Quincey is pacing in his apartment after getting yet another cryptic text from his Father.

_What the f*ck does he want? I have more important things to do!_

Granted, he hasn’t had any direct contact since that phone call, that horrible phone call when they discovered Tora is missing. 

_Had to happen sooner than later, and who knows what Martin has been telling him._

There's a knock on the door, and Smithy does his schtick, looking through the peephole.

“It’s him.”

“Well, let him in. Let’s get this over with.”

Smithy opens the door, and gestures to Vincent and his two bodyguards to enter. Quincey didn’t recognize either one, but he wouldn’t--he spends as little time as possible around the bastard.

“Father.”

“Quinceton. It’s been too long, of course.”

“Please come in and have a seat.” Quincey is barely, just _barely_ able to act civilized. He is just too nervous.

Vincent sits facing the windows with his bodyguards at either shoulder. He sits and looks at Quincey for a few minutes.

_Don’t you f*cking judge me you sanctimonious prick. I’m fine, thank you very much._

“Martin tells me you’re not making a lot of progress.”

_Obviously, you dick._

“Yes, that’s true. But we have some leads. I’m sure Martin told you?”

“Of course. He tells me everything.”

“I will say that we--both Gyu and I--are taking this seriously and are doing everything we can to find him, and know we have Clan resources at our disposal. Please do not _ever_ doubt that, Father.”

All Vincent does is stare at Quincey.

_God, that man can be so unnerving. I hate this Clan bullshit._

“You know, Quinceton. I think it’s time.”

_Oh no you don’t…_

“Time for what, sir?”

“It’s time for you to step up in this organization. Take your rightful place. You’ve been...allowed your indulgences long enough.”

_Nononononononononono…_

Quincey wants to show a strong face, but he can see some of his panic reflected back to him in his Father’s eyes.

“But I know you have just started the search for Tora, and I’ll allow you a little longer. I meet with Martin in six days, so you have that long. If you can’t find anything by then, I may have no choice but to find someone who can. Someone not so close to Tora and not so invested. And maybe you can come up with something, some way to show me your indulgences can benefit the Clan. Then maybe, MAYBE, I'll allow you to keep writing your...”

Quincey knows his Father cannot _stand_ it, that he writes soft-core porn, smut. 

_Like there aren't worse things happening in the fringes of the Clan, Father? Like the women at Club Miracle? Pfft. That’s okay, but not my erotica? F*cking hypocrit._

“Understood.”

“If not, if I’m not satisfied, then we will talk about your... elevation.”

Quincey is so shocked, he doesn’t say anything.

“Expect my call in a week.”

Ever the character, Vincent gets up and walks back out the door, bodyguards in tow.

It could have been worse, but still, it’s not good. Not good at all.

Quincey is utterly freaking out.

_Oh, F*CK, F*CK, F*CK!!! I am screwed!_

++++++++++++++++++

After the long day he had the day before, Gyu wakes up late for once. The stress of driving to Chīsana, then discovering the GPS data took its toll. He knows he’ll have to set up a time to go to the Sōko warehouse with Quincey either later that day or the next. 

_Pfft, it’s more stressful to find these things that lead us_ **_nowhere_** _, than finding nothing at all._

Slowly, ever so slowly, he gets out of bed and boots up his laptop. He knows there is more to do. He connects his personal encrypted card reader, and slowly slides the memory card from Tora’s apartment into it. Before he can blink, a request for a password pops up.

 _F*ck if I know what it might be. I don’t even know if this is_ **_his_** _._

So, he starts with something random, but perhaps something Tora might use. Tora, the tech-phobe that he is, would use something ridiculous, even after all the lectures I’ve given him over the years.

_“Tiger”_

**_Password not recognized. You have four more attempts. After five attempts, this storage device will be locked for 24 hours._ **

_Hmmm… this might be more difficult than I thought it’d be… But it could be worse. Not knowing who set this up, and what security settings it might have..._

_“Goliath”_

**_Password not recognized. You have three more attempts. After five attempts, this storage device will be locked for 24 hours._ **

_Hmmm… What the hell, I have to try it… As much as I f*cking hate it..._

_“Ronzo”_

**_Password not recognized. You have two more attempts. After five attempts, this storage device will be locked for 24 hours._ **

_“Strawberry girl”_

**_Password not recognized. You have one more attempt. After five attempts, this storage device will be locked for 24 hours._ **

_Okay, that guess was really out there...._

Gyu is feeling even more anxious now. He has no idea what might happen after 24 hours. 

_Will I even get another five attempts? F*ck it. I’m gonna ask Quincey what he thinks it might be._

He calls Quincey’s burner, and surprisingly he answers after one ring.

“Hey, boo boo. Just the person I wanted to talk to this morning! I was just going to call you about the warehouse.”

“Yo, bro. Hold on, first, I have a question for you. I’m trying to open that memory card, you know, the one I found at Tora’s? It’s password protected. I’m not getting the usual infinite options, I’m only allowed five attempts, and it tells me will be locked for 24 hours if I can’t guess it. I’ve tried four already. Any idea for potential passwords?”

_Quincey is a clever f*ck, he’ll probably guess it on his first try._

“Huh. Kind of surprising, since Big Bro is so...low tech.”

“Believe me, I know that. I did consider that it might not be his, but I think it’s best to approach it as though it is.”

“Got it. Tell me the first four passwords you tried.”  
  
“Tiger, Goliath, Ronzo, and Strawberry girl.”

“I’m impressed, honey. Good choices, but you should have called me first. What is it you always tell me about passwords? You have to--”

“Yeah, Quince, of course. I tried the simple ones first. Tora always depends on me for this shit, so if, **_IF_ ** he did this himself, I’d have to think he would pick something he thinks is clever and perhaps something really good. Or even no one, NO ONE except the three of us would know it.”

“Well, give me a sec…”

Quincey was silent for almost a minute. Gyu was just going to say something, to make sure Quincey wasn’t disconnected when he spoke up.

“I think I know what it might be.”

“What?”

“Try _Bobby._ ”

Gyu types it in, and immediately knows it’s correct. 

“Jackpot, bro.”

“Sweet! That is a name only the three of us, well, the _four_ of us know.”

Gyu didn’t say anything, but he was nodding his head.

“OK. I’m gonna take a look at this in a sec. When do you want to head over to Sōko?”

“Three good for you?”  
  
“Yep. Later.”

Gyu spends a few minutes more looking at the memory card’s directory. The names of files seem interesting. He picks one at random and opens it. And his eyes bug out. It’s a list of politicians and locations, as well as the name “Balthuman” all over the screen.

++++++++++++++++++

The three young women are laughing and snorting as they enter the Moonbright Diner. Poppy has to admit it’s nice to feel so good for a change. They have been telling her all kinds of stories from flight attendant school. 

_All the power to them,_ thought Poppy, _as I could never do that job at all. Pfft. Not pretty enough anyways._

Just as they get escorted to their table, Poppy hears a familiar laugh and freezes. Danae and Mirabelle didn’t hear it, but notice Poppy’s posture.

“What’s wrong? Poppy? Honey, is something wrong?”

_Fudge biscuits. I really hoped I could avoid that jerk._

Poppy closes her eyes, and tells them: “Julri.”

“Oh no, we are not staying, Poppylan. We can go somewh--”

"No.”

Danae and Mirabelle look at each other, and then back at Poppy. 

“No?”

“No. I have to do this. Part of moving on has to do with acceptance, right?”

“Sure. I guess.”  
  
They are both impressed by Poppy’s assertiveness and determination.

They continue to take their seats. Poppy just doesn’t care. She doesn’t ask to be seated as far away as possible, nor does she hide either. 

_Well, I’m mostly over that fudging jerk. I can only hope he doesn’t see us._

Just as the waiter hands them their menus, and she hears him.

“Poppylan?” 

_Shit._

But she doesn’t engage him, ignores him totally. She looks at Danae and Mirabelle, sitting in the middle of the booth. Her tactic is to ignore him as much as possible.

_I don’t owe that creep a damn thing._

But of course that doesn't mean anything to him, and he walks over to their table. Danae and Mirabelle don't say anything, but both are giving him nasty looks.

“It is you. Where have you been? Gosh, you look really, _really_ good. I’ve been trying to call you. I am so sorry, bab--”

“I'm not your babe.”

“You didn’t even give me a chance to explain.”

“Ha, what’s to explain? That blonde bimbo’s lipstick was all over your face! Your pants were pulled down!”

“Mimi? Oh, I was just helping her, you know, tutoring her. She means nothing.”

“You’re right. It meant nothing. _You are nothing_. Now, I’m eating dinner, so see you around. Goodbye.”

Poppy can see that several of his friends are sitting nearby watching what’s unfolding.

“Now, c’mon, Poppy. I said it meant nothing. You should have called me to tell me you were coming to visit. I would have been ready. It’s time we talked about it. Let’s go.”

Poppy laughed so loud at his ridiculous statement. 

“You complete and utter asshole! I am going nowhere with _you._ I broke up with you months ago. And, you know what? I have a new boyfriend.”

Julri looks at her in shock.

“Yeah, that’s right. And he is a complete upgrade. Hell, he’s in the next stratosphere over you, you non-existent needle dick!”

“Popp--”

Julri’s face is beet red, but she is on a roll.

“Save it for Mimi. We are done. Have a nice dinner.”

He opens and shuts his mouth a few more times, but then hesitantly turns around to go back and sit with his friends.

Poppy takes a deep breath, and opens her menu.

“Okay, women, I want my usual. I’m fudging _starved.”_


	15. “The smile that you gave me, Even when you felt like dyin'”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gyu, Quincey, and Smithy visit the warehouse. Danae and Mirabelle chat with Poppy after her liberating confrontation with Julri. Poppy travels back to Narin City, and has a vivid flashback of her train ride home--the first day she met Tora. Gyu visits the storage locker rented by Tora.

**Day 25 - Saturday**

Quincey and Smithy pick up Gyu at 3:05, and they immediately head out to the Sōko warehouse. 

Gyu is not at all optimistic, as it’s been three weeks since Tora disappeared, and almost as long since the car itself was last there, too. Who knows what they’ll find. But because they are trying to be as thorough as possible, they couldn’t NOT go there and try a search. They are thankful that Martin doesn’t know about it, and the fact that the car remained there for so long. While suspicious, it may be a windfall. Given their lack of any information, they can only hope.

The warehouse is located on the far end of the Narin River basin, so far away from Ares Street that it doesn’t make sense to be a Clan location. Sōko is an old defunct company which used to manufacture DVD players. It’s been out of business for 15 years or more, and after a quick scan of the public record, it’s been empty since then. The bank has never sold the property, not even to the Balthuman family. 

They pull up, and Gyu pulls out his mobile scanner, to make sure there are no cameras or other tech nearby. As expected, it’s a dead zone.

“We’re clear.”

They all get out of the car, and walk to the gated entrance. There may have been a padlock and chain on the gate once, but it’s long gone. It’s not a problem to get inside.

“Okay, let’s divide and conquer. Gyu, you take the guard booth, any offices you find, and the first floor. Smithy, you are going to walk the periphery, the fence. Look for any signs of a car parked near here in the past month--oil slicks, transmission fluid, and so on. Oh, that and cigarette butts. We should all keep our eyes out for those. I will go through the second floor and then walk the outside walls. Good?”

_For a man who hates the Clan and wants to be far removed from mafia shit as possible, he is good at this._

The three men work until the sun starts to set. They do find some cigarette butts, but Gyu can’t confirm that they are not Tora’s brand. Smithy finds some oil spots, but there is simply no way to know what car left it and how long it’s been there. They did find a room on the second floor with a metal chair, sitting alone, with ropes hanging off it. There may or may not have been blood on the floor surrounding it.

_F*ck I wish we could do some forensics-type shit, but we have our limits._

“Any way we can find out if this is a Clan disposal depot, Gyu?”

“I’ll get on it.”

“Otherwise, I don’t think we found anything substantial. But I want us all to think a bit. Why would his car be sitting here for three weeks, and then get moved to a small town recently? Tell me about any theories, no matter how silly, no matter how _out there._ ”

“You got it, bro.”

“Let’s just get you home. I know you have a late shift, ya?”

“Yep, I do.”

Gyu doesn’t tell Quincey, but he’s going to call his sister tonight. Maybe she can help. _She_ has access to forensics that they don’t. 

They all pile into Quincey’s yellow car and drive off back to the city.

_It can’t possibly hurt our efforts, at this point._

**Day 26 - Sunday**

The three young women enjoyed their meal at the Moonbright Diner. They sat for hours, staying for dessert and coffee. Finally, they left to go home and watch a movie and simply be together until Poppy has to leave the next day. Luckily, Julri and his friends did not bother them for the rest of the night. In fact, they watched as Julri led his friends out the back entrance on the far side of the restaurant. 

They all fall asleep on the living room floor after watching “Turbo.”

Poppy is startled awake by Danae rolling over on top of her.

“Ugh, D, get off me. You’re crushing me!”

“Oh, my lil Poppy Seed Muffin, it’s just you’re so _squishy_.”

Danae grabs both Poppy’s cheeks and pinches them. For a few brief seconds, Poppy thought she might burst into tears. There’s only one other person who’s ever done that to her cheeks, calling them squishy. 

_Deep breaths, Poppy, deep breaths. It’s a sign of affection. It’s okay._

Somehow she recovers before the two of them even notice the distress she’s feeling.

“D, come _on_. We won’t have a lot of time for breakfast. Not if we want to do everything we have planned. My train leaves this afternoon.”

“Okay, Muffin, okay.” Ironically, Mirabelle hasn’t even stirred yet. 

_That will be remedied, dear ladies, mark my words._

Danae finally rolls off her, and Poppy gets up and goes to use the bathroom. Taking several deep breaths, she really is trying to get her shit together.

_Why is it that all these little things are the hardest to cope with? I mean, really._

After washing her face and brushing her teeth, Poppy comes back out to the living room, and tackles Mirabelle.

“Alright, Bella, you’ve slept enough.”

All Mirabelle can do is groan.

“I had a dream I was a fast-moving snail, racing with Ryan Reynolds. Oof. We stayed up way too late, girls.”

Both Danae and Poppy laugh at this.

“Oh, c’mon that snail is beyond cute, Bella. Anyways, let’s get cracking. We have to keep to our schedule, and then you’re gonna have to take me to the station. CHOP CHOP.”

++++++++++++++++++

Danae, Mirabelle, and Poppy are now sitting outside Moonbright station. They’re keeping Poppy company until her train pulls in on its way back to the city. 

“So, Poppy, I have to ask. Last night, when you handed Julri his ass, you mentioned you had a new boyfriend. Is he for real? _Did_ you meet a new guy? _Julri 2.0?_ ”

_Oh, fudge, I was hoping they wouldn’t bring this up. Sigh, Mirabelle, Mirabelle, Mirabelle. You nosy snot, you._

Danae adds to it, though, further irritating Poppy.

“And you said, and I quote, he’s ‘in the next stratosphere’?”

 _Oh fudge_ **_is_ ** _he. He’s in another universe, ladies. And just when I thought I was getting my emotions back in check. WHEW._

Of course, Poppy doesn’t know that **_they_ **know about a certain tall dark and handsome man. Even so, she feigns ignorance.

‘C’mon you two. You _know_ I only said all that so that f*cker would shut up and leave me alone.”

Danae and Mirabelle are shocked at her use of profanity. Poppy _never_ swears, and she’s not smiling either. She doesn’t look happy at all.

_What is up, Poppylan? What about the guy Erdene told us about?_

Danae is concerned, but continues.

“Right. Well, any man is better than that chump, am I right? I mean the way you put him in his place, it was masterful! You go, girl!”

But Poppy still doesn’t smile. 

Danae looks over Poppy’s back at Mirabelle. _Something isn’t right._

“Popp--”

They hear a loud whoosh and then-- _SCREECH._

They are trying to get her to talk more, but the train pulls in and comes to a sudden stop. Poppy pops up right up, and avoids their eyes.

“Gotta go. I’m so glad I got to see you, guys. Good luck with everything. Let’s plan another video call soon, okay? LOVE YOU!”

She runs onto the train, and doesn’t even give them a hug.

“POPPYLAN!”

They are both speechless at her behavior. But before they can even think of following her on the train, to talk to her, it starts to depart. 

They can see Poppy sitting at the very front car, and she’s not even looking out the window, waving at them.

Mirabelle looks over at Danae with distress.

“What the hell is going on, Danae?”

++++++++++++++++++

Mirabelle @Proj. P.P.C.>>Yo, Erdene. Where u at

Erdene @Proj. P.P.C.>>Ladies, u got a report 4 me? Did she dish?

Danae @Proj. P.P.C.>>not exactly. 

Mirabelle @Proj. P.P.C.>>we saw julri last night and she f*cked him up. I mean it was poetry in motion.

Erdene @Proj. P.P.C.>> get the f out--rly? I would have PAID good money to see that.

Danae @Proj. P.P.C.>>she did tell him that she had a new guy, he was much higher level, def an upgrade

Erdene @Proj. P.P.C.>>yas my Pops!!!! so did she tell u then

Mirabelle @Proj. P.P.C.>>no

Mirabelle @Proj. P.P.C.>>she said she made a fake boyfrd up to piss J off, but basically that there was no guy. When she said it she used the f word

Erdene @Proj. P.P.C.>>really? I would have thought she’d say something about him. I mean he is f*ckin gorgeous FFS -- you saw his face [[hot emoji]] and he is so into her i*saw* it in his face

Mirabelle @Proj. P.P.C.>>well she wouldnt look us in the eye after we asked and didn’t even give us a hug goodbye. She seems very upset rite now What do you think is going on Dene

Erdene @Proj. P.P.C.>>I don’t know guys. Now i’m worried. Her train doesn’t come for another couple hours. will txt her then. Any other news let me know k? 

Danae @Proj. P.P.C.>>u got it. Ttyl

Erdene @Proj. P.P.C.>>same here TTFN

++++++++++++++++++

The sun is starting to set, and the train is slowly rocking back and forth on the rails as it speeds on its way to Narin City. Poppy feels so embarrassed at how she reacted to Danae and Mirabelle. _What is wrong with me?_ _Why did I do that?_

After feeling so liberated telling Julri to fudge off the night before, and being with the most important people in her life, she thought maybe she had turned a corner, that things would be fine. 

_But… but… it’s not. I think that moment, when she pinched my cheeks and she said how I'm so squishy? It’s like every bit of emotional pain I’ve locked away has been released._

Poppy just couldn’t help herself. Her crippling self-doubt has been fueled by the fires of what has been happening for the past three and a half weeks. She begins to openly sob.

_Did I do it again? Did I drive him away, too? Was it something I said? How I look? Am I too clingy? Am…I truly disgusting? Was it because I hurt him?_

It’s not lost on her that she’s on the train to Narin City from Moonbright, and her memories are honestly not her friend right now. She was in a similar state four months ago. She can’t help but remember the details, riding the same route as that day, the first day she met Tora. 

She is vividly remembering him--his aura, the picture he took of her, the hoodie--and his face. She had been doing so well, not being sad, and mostly keeping him out of her mind. But after what she blurted out in the diner, and, yes, Danae’s squishy comment, she continues to sob, and for a long time, she is practically inconsolable.

_Nothing lasts forever._

By the time the train arrives in the Narin City station, she’s gotten her crying under control, but she still feels rather crappy and really drained. She had planned to text Erdene to give her a ride home, but now that she’s a crying mess, she’s glad she didn’t. She simply cannot be under scrutiny again. She pulls out her phone and arranges for an Uber instead. She’ll text Erdene in the morning before work, telling her she’s home safe.

She gets home within 30 minutes. As soon as she walks through her door, she drops everything. She walks over to her dresser, pulls Tora’s sweatshirt out of her bottom drawer, and, putting it on, she gets into bed. It still faintly smells like him.

_Whatever you’re doing, wherever you are, I hope you are doing okay. Because I’m not._

++++++++++++++++++

After finding nothing at the warehouse, Gyu moves onto the next thing they can check out--the storage shed. It’s smack-dab in the middle of the Ares Street district.

The space itself is small, about 6x6x9. He gets there and luckily he knows the clerk, who won’t give him any grief in checking the space out. Some outfits require photo ID just to get in the building. 

He finds the slot, and finds a relatively new padlock latched on. He puts in the key, opens the lock, and then pulls up the metal shade. It is loud as f*ck, but offers no resistance at all. The space is smelly, dusty, and, much to his profuse disappointment, practically empty.

The only thing there is a small footlocker, about 5 feet in length. He lifts it, and discovers it’s light. A little too light, so he picks it up, and takes it with him, locking the whole thing up behind him.

He shoves the locker into his backseat, and calls Quincey on his burner, leaving a quick voice mail.

“Yo, bro. I got into the storage. All there is a footlocker. Gonna be bringing it your way. Let me know when you’ll be there. Later.”

He puts the key in his pocket, and gets ready to start his car. Before he can turn the key, Quincey texts him quickly: “Come now.”

++++++++++++++++++

He arrives in about half an hour. Gyu is not hopeful, as the locker is just so light. He’s not sensing anything moving around inside.

He solemnly rides up the elevator, then knocks on Quincey’s door, Smithy letting him in.

“Here we are, bro. Doesn’t even have a lock.”

They plop it down on the coffee table. All three look at each other, and hope that it will have something in it, _anything._

They open it, but it’s empty. It’s beyond anticlimactic. They are completely exasperated by so few leads. They spend a long time talking about how maybe they can use forensics on some of the stuff they’ve found, perhaps looking at the footlocker and some of the other stuff from his apartment with forensics tools, including seeking fingerprints, gunpowder, and any other microscope evidence.

“You know you can hire a lab to do that stuff these days.”  
  
“And how much does that cost? And what’s the turn around. Not that I won’t pay it, of course.”

“I think its an option we can’t discount. You know I can take care of any forensic tech stuff, but the science shit? I don't know nothing about that. I could ask my sister--”

“No! You know we can’t involve the police. Not even in this.”

Gyu mentally cringes, as he's already texted her about it. _Whoops_.

“OK, but can I ask if she knows the names of any private labs?”

“And what if she asks why you want to know? What would you tell her?”

“I’d tell her a half-truth maybe. I mean, she knows I work for the Clan. If I tell her it’s Club business, she’ll likely back off.”

“OK--but you cannot tell her what’s going on or what we are doing. There are Clan people in the police department, too, you know.”

“Of course. I’ll be as vague as possible. But I think we need to do this. We have no other choice. WE HAVE ALMOST NOTHING, Quincey. And I’m starting to think Big Bro is really gone, and he maybe he doesn’t want to come back."


	16. “We fall apart as it gets dark”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Erdene gets a report from Poppy’s Moonbright trip. Quincey confesses to Erdene that Tora is missing. Gyu finds out about Poppy’s mystery calls. Poppy takes a walk down memory lane, literally, but doesn’t realize someone is watching her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> >   
> “Not knowing when the dawn will come I open every door.”  
> —Emily Dickinson

**Day 27 - Monday**

Poppy and Dene are sitting in the conference room at Giant Goldfish, and Erdene asks her about her trip to Moonbright.

“Oh, it was so good to see Danae and Mirabelle. I mean, I told them our video chats just aren’t cutting it. Even though it wasn’t a long visit, it was a quality one.”

“What’d you guys do for fun?”

“Well, we stayed up late watching Netflix and fell asleep on the living room floor. Real excitement there.”

Erdene shakes her head at Poppy.

Not exactly Netflix and chill, but that’s good enough for her right now.

“Oh, and get this. We went out for dinner and just guess who we ran into.”

“Who?”

Poppy gives her a look saying, _C’mon think about it._

“Oh, no, really, you saw Julri??”

“Yep. And I took care of him, let me tell you. He started in on his usual shit, tried to get me to talk to him so we could reconcile. I mean, the fudging nerve of that guy.”

Erdene is tickled pink, “You go, girl!” 

She puts her hand up, giving Poppy a high five. And of course Poppy reciprocates.

“Oh it felt so good to tell that creep off. I mean he was trying to tell me that the girl meant nothing, that he was only helping her study. I mean her lipstick was all over his face! And then he was telling me I wasn’t being fair, and said I should have called him to tell him I was coming to town, so we could take care of things. I mean the shit the man was shoveling was deep, Dene.”

“You know, I’m so proud of you, Pops, especially at how far you’ve come since that non-existent-dick prick cheated on you. You realize that it was because of that, because of his indiscretion that your life changed for the better? I admit it was a rough way to get it off the ground, to improve your life, but look at everything that’s happened since. But most of all, you’ve already acknowledged how you need to take care of yourself. I mean it’s just like you told me at Fallen Angel. You need to be by yourself for awhile, and you’re doing it. And you’re dealing with shit-ass ex-boyfriends, too.”

Poppy smiles at Dene, because she’s right, but then her smile fades.

My life did change for the better, after that day. And that’s because of him, too. I know that now. But I don’t know what’s going on with him, either. 

“Pops, you okay? You had a look on your face that’s got me kind of worried.”

Fudge, I gotta get control of these emotions. I don’t want to talk about it, so I think I’ve avoided the conversation, for now.

“It’s nothing really. I gotta get back to it, Dene.”

Poppy cleans up and goes back to sit at her desk, leaving Erdene behind.

_What the hell, Poppy?_

Erdene witnessed Poppy’s face shift rapidly from happiness and triumph to, what, despair? And it happened so fast. 

_What the hell didn’t she tell me? I purposely did not ask her about Tiger boy, but clearly something is up. I’m going to call Quincey as soon as I can to get the scoop directly from him. And based on what Danae and Mirabelle told me, she didn’t tell me the entire story about dinner. But why? I suspect that he hasn’t been in touch with her. Now I’m worried that Poppy is going to get hurt again._

++++++++++++++++++

Poppy gets home that evening at her usual time, and she sees Gyu sitting in the guard booth.

“Hey, Gyu, how are you? Haven’t seen you in awhile.”

“Hey, Poppy, I’m good. Just working a different shift. More often than not, I’m gone by the time you get home and when you leave in the morning. But today I had to switch shifts today, so you get the honor of my presence.”

Poppy smiles.

“So, I wanted to ask you. Have you heard from Tora at all? I mean, I’ve texted him and left him messages, but I haven’t gotten a response. Quincey tells me he’s on a job, and sometimes that happens. It’s just that it’s been almost a month. Is that typical?”

_Not that I really know what a job might entail, but I am fudging desperate for information here!_

“Um, no, no I haven’t Poppy. It’s just like Quincey told you. He sometimes gets these assignments, special ones, where he has to be incommunicado. Nothing he can do. Sorry I can’t tell you more.”

Poppy is dejected, and it shows on her face. 

_F*ck, I’ll have to tell Quincey she’s asked about him again. I mean how much f*cking longer can we tell her the same story without it sounded fishy?_

“OK, well thanks for letting me—“

Her phone starts ringing. As she’s pulling it out, Gyu can see that it says “UNKNOWN NUMBER” on the screen, thinking she’ll likely just hang up. He always does, as they are almost always robo-calls. But surprisingly she swipes and answers.

“Hello?”

He can tell no one is responding.

“Hello?”

Then she hangs up. 

“Dammit, I keep getting these weird calls.”

“Oh, and why are they weird? Aren’t they spam? I get them all the time.”

“I don’t think they are. I mean, I answer, and it’s just silence. During one of them, I could hear a hiss—like maybe its an open phone line? Then I hear a soft click, and it just disconnects.”

This puts Gyu on high alert.

_Oh this is not good, Pops! I wish I had known about this sooner._

“What else can you tell me about these calls? How many would you say you’ve received?”

“Three. With the one I just got just now, it’s three.”

“Okay, are they the same number?”

“No, each one is completely different. And from a different nearby town.”

“Anything else you can tell me? Time of day? Where you were when the calls came in?” 

“Um, let me think a minute. All three were received during the last week and a half. The first was at about midnight, and I was in bed upstairs. The second one was 9 at night, and I was here at home--I had just gotten home from a beta reading with Quincey at his penthouse.”

She’s a bit surprised, not realizing that all three calls came while she was at home. 

“What do you think it means?”

“I don’t know. Do you think there might be a time I can look at your phone, with your permission of course. I have some technology tools I can use that might help solve the mystery.”

“Well, you can have it right now. I mean how long will it take?”

“It might take a few hours. I can run it back upstairs either when I’m done or when my shift ends. Sound good?”

“Sure. And you can email me if you need to contact me about anything else or if you have other questions. I have my laptop upstairs.”

“You got it, Pops. I’ll do my best.”

“Thanks, Gyu.”

She makes her way to the stairway to head upstairs. As soon as the door closes behind her, Gyu pulls out his burner and calls Quincey.

It’s around dinner time, so Quincey doesn’t pick up. He leaves a voicemail.

“Bro, gotta talk. Poppy’s been getting weird phone calls the past week or so. Call me when you get this message. I think they know about her.”

++++++++++++++++++

**Day 28 - Tuesday**

Dene is sitting at her desk watching Poppy walk out the door. Poppy has decided she’s going for a walk today, so no lunch in the conference room together. As soon as Poppy shuts the door behind her, Dene pulls out her phone calling Quincey. After several rings, he finally answers.

“Hello?”

_Cripes, he still sounds asleep._

“Good morning, oh great writer of smut, tis I, Erdene. WAKE UP!”

“Oh, hey, Dene Bean. Sorry I had a late night last night. Still in bed. What’s up?

“Well my man, I am calling to talk Tiger, if you know what I mean.”

_Oh f*ck, she did NOT just say that. I am not prepared to talk to her, at all._

Quincey felt much more awake now.

“What about him?”

“Uh, about that birthday party and how he and Poppy are completely smitten with each other? I don’t know how much she’s told you, but—“

“Dene, stop. I have to tell you something.”

“Oh? Is it good? Am I gonna be happy? Cause if that asshole hurts her, I swear to godde—“

“Erdene, he’s missing.”

“What?”

“He’s been missing for almost a month. No one, and I mean no one has any idea where he is, or if anything’s happened. He’s just GONE.”

“Oh my goddess—and what has Poppy to say about this?”

Quincey doesn’t answer.

“Quincey, she knows, right?”

Silence.

“Quincey, what the f*ck is going on? She has to know!”

“We—I haven’t told her yet, at least not the full truth.”

“And why the hell not?”

“Well, it’s...complicated, due to his other job in...security. It’s a sensitive matter, and we can’t just tell anyone. Not yet.”

Erdene finds this highly suspect.

“Well, what do you know?”

“Almost nothing. The only thing we do know is the last time he had any contact with anyone was about 28 days ago. He was at Poppy’s apartment, left to go to work, and vanished.”

“Wow.”

“Poppy was the last person to see him before he disappeared.”

“Oh, f*ck Quincey. This is bad. Really bad.”

“Believe me I know. But we are looking, we really are.”

“OK, this is a lot to absorb, Quincey. I gotta go. I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Erde—“

Click. Too late, she’s already disconnected.

+++++++++++++++++

Poppy felt that she just had to get out of the office today. The pace of work the past couple weeks has been grueling, plus dealing with Quincey’s eccentricities has been wearing on Poppy’s nerves.

_The man is so irritating sometimes. UGH._

Between the workload, Quincey’s weirdness, the funky phone calls, and still no word from _him_ , the stress has just been building almost to a breaking point. She decided that morning she needed to do something different to help distract her. She figured a long walk at lunchtime would be a good release—plus it’ll actually be good for her. 

Erdene has been pestering her to come to a yoga class or two, but Poppy has been putting her off. She is just not in the mood for it, at least right now. I mean she looked it up, as she looks up everything— _just gotta do the research_. And it does sound appealing, but she is trying to avoid meditation—thinking—for the short term. 

_If I think too much, it...it isn’t good. But then again, I know what Erdene is trying to do. And she’s right—it’s all about finding myself, taking care of myself. Plus, I still have so much healing to do._

Poppy keeps walking for several blocks, and loses track of time. Suddenly, she sees something that seems awfully familiar. It’s a small tract of land with a tree on it.

_Wait, I know this place. Have I been here bef—_

Then it hits her. Oh my goodness, this is the tree. The tree!

It looks a little different during the day, and she can’t believe she almost forgot about that night. 

Smiling to herself, she remembered how reckless she was climbing that tree, and knew the moment she saw the cat and it’s predicament, she had to rescue it. 

_Guess I’m just a sucker for the cute ones, right?_

She looks up into the tree, leaves wavering a bit in a light breeze, and could still see where that branch broke off, and smiles. 

She crouches down and runs her hand over the grass at her feet and laughs a little. She hears a meow, and looks over to the fence bordering the median to see a cat, a white cat. Could this be the same cat who she rescued that night? Likely.

She walks over to say it, giving the ears a little scratch. 

_Oh, this is just too funny—you silly cat. You ungrateful little shit. Come to make sure I’m not gonna climb this tree again, or finally say thank you? Sorry to disappoint you—strictly a surprise visit._

Another day, another memory. It really was a stupid thing that she did, climbing that tree. And the odds he would be there to catch her? Astronomical, but it happened. 

With a little smile on her face, she sighs and gives the cat more one scritch behind its ears, then walks back across the street to head back to Giant Goldfish. Somehow for the first time in a while, a memory didn’t make her sad.

_But I have to admit, what I wouldn’t give to hear his nice husky voice right now._

+++++++++++++++++

After Erdene hung up on him, Quincey could kick himself.

_F*ck. She just surprised me, that’s all._

The anxiety and pressure of both not knowing and not finding any evidence of what’s happened to Tora is getting to him. 

He opens a text window to text her.

Quincess @DeneBean>> _hey_ _Sorry to drop such a bomb on u right now am very anxious and upset can’t tell u too much right now tho_

DeneBean @Quincess> _i still think its wrong not to tell Pops if you don’t and she finds out u have been lying she will never forgive u_

Quincess @DeneBean>> _I know I know i will tell her but not yet promise me PLS u will not say anything You CANNOT pls Besides maybe he will be back soon?_ 🤞🏻

DeneBean @Quincess>> _ok but only under protest so you owe me 👑 but i have to ask Is there anything i can do to help I think pops suspects something cause she’s been acting weird well weird for *her*_ 😝

Quincess @DeneBean>> _just do ur best to keep 🌺 calm dont have GGP visit planned for awhile its easier not to see her face 2 face we are desperately trying 2 find anything The fact that she was the last one to see him before he vanished? That’s rough DB. And just so you kno i don’t want her to know that Maybe ever?_

DeneBean @Quincess>>😳 _whoa u find out ANYTHING good or bad let me know I will watch her from here and keep her as distracted as i can u realize they really got it bad 4 ea other right?_

Quincess @DeneBean>> _u have no idea 😔 gotta go_

DeneBean @Quincess>> _got it TTYL_

+++++++++++++++++

He’s walking a few blocks behind her when he sees her run across the street to a median with a big old tree. She crouches down smiling, and rubbing her hands through the grass. Then she looks up to see a white cat by the nearby fence and says something to it. She walks over to it and pets it a little bit. Whatever. But she doesn’t stay long. Then she crosses back to the sidewalk, and is walking her way back, right towards him.

_F*ck, I hope she didn’t see me._

He quickly ducks into the closest alleyway to hide, waiting for her to pass by. When she does, he slips back behind her and keeps watching. She walks for several more blocks, then enters a building with a restaurant, “Patio,” on the lower level. She is heading to a stairway leading upstairs. There is a sign with a goldfish, and the words “Giant Goldfish Publishing.”

He’s filing all this away for future reference. He’d been watching her for a while. It wasn’t until he saw her with that Balthuman f*ck and then Tora that the cogs in his head started turning. He felt like he knew her from somewhere, but where? 

Then one day when he was covertly watching her, he noticed she had two braids in her hair. Then he knew where he saw her before—she was that short chick with Lam, that day in Clarks.

_And I hear she helped sign some kind of big contract with Lam._

He is starting to suspect that maybe, maybe she had a part in him losing his big prize. But he has to be careful, as she is too close to the two men he tried to avoid as much as possible. At least up until now.

_I’m going to keep watching you, honey, and if I find out you had anything to do with it, you’re dead. Simple as that._

He watches as she gets in the elevator, likely going back up to Giant Goldfish Publishing, and he keeps walking by the building slowly. 

_Things are gonna change, honey, since Tora is MIA. Your protector ain’t here, and well, you cost me something dearly. I just have to be a little more patient. Make sure Tora doesn’t come back to f*ck me over. Then? I’ll have a new plaything for sure._

Scharch keeps walking with a smile curling on one side of his mouth. He is on the warpath for sure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oxford dictionary definition of Yoga is “a Hindu spiritual and ascetic discipline, a part of which, including breath control, simple meditation, and the adoption of specific bodily postures, is widely practiced for health and relaxation”


	17. “I'm in your arms in Central Park”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gyu and Quincey lament lack of significant leads, so they go the forensics route. But Gyu makes a discovery that may give them a small clue they desperately need. Poppy starts a diary, and confronts Quincey. It's been 30 days, and she wants to know the truth. Martin and his boys meet with Vincent, and decide to begin a side investigation.

**Day 29 - Wednesday**

Gyu arrives at Quincey’s doorstep for another data dump.

“Yo, bro. Here to dump what little I have.”

“Come on in, boo boo. This is getting bad isn’t it. I mean we can’t seem to find much of _anything._ What can we do next?”

“I think we definitely have to hire that private lab I mentioned, and have them look through some of what we’ve collected, the warehouse, the storage locker, the apartment, and maybe even the car.”

“Alright. I fought you on this, but I guess you’re right. Let’s take a chance.”

“My sister gave me the name of a good one. It’s the best in the region if not the country, and this one is sympathetic to the clan, if not on its payroll.”

Gyu doesn’t tell Quincey about the huge argument he had with his sister when he contacted her. He also believes she is hiding something from him, likely something to do with an investigation into the Balthumans. It’s all he can do but deny he knows anything himself, or that Tora is missing, and is caught between both sides more than usual.

“Well, if we’re going to have this company look at the car, we better do it fast. It’s the only thing I can give to Martin. I mean we do have some things that they don’t know about, so if we can give them the car, it could just placate them while the lab does their thing.”

“OK—I’ll call them this afternoon and get rates and timeframes. We may need to have them help cover our tracks. I believe they are also good at fabricating fake evidence.

Quincey is shocked to learn about this, but it makes sense, especially for the clan. 

_I mean if it’s not cleaning up shit, it’s making it up? Geesh, I hate this life, what little I’m part of it—and what little I know about it._

“Well call me ASAP, as I have to get something for Martin today. And he’s meeting with Father tomorrow. You know he told me, again, it’s time.”

“Time?” 

“Time to _ascend.”_

Gyu actually pales at this statement.

“Yep. But said if I can come up with something about Tora, and if I can prove that my ‘distractions,’ are beneficial to the organization, he _may_ let me off the hook.”

“That’s cold, bro.”

“Tell me about it! Anyways, contacting that lab is priority. If they can’t get to the car, we’re gonna have to let it go to Martin and his crew.”

“Hey, I need to fill you in on Poppy’s situation, too.”

“Right. So, she’s been getting some sort of spam calls or something?”

“I’m not convinced they are spam or robo-calls. They are crafted to appear that they are, but they’re not. At first I didn’t understand why Poppy doesn’t just block them. It was just random luck that the most recent call happened while she was talking to me. Otherwise, who knows how much longer it might continue. Anyways, Poppy let me look at her phone, and I downloaded some of the data. Whoever is doing this, whoever might be tracking her must be mad talented, because the information is seemingly legit. If it is someone from the clan, they are a clever hacker. If not, no idea who it might be. I may actually clone her phone, so I can do more digging. But that’s strictly illegal of course.”

Quincey rolls his eyes at _that._

_Gyu, we’re in the mafia. Most of what we do is already illegal. What difference does it make?_

"But I'm thinking someone in the clan knows about her, I mean that she's important to Tora, or that she's a civilian mixed up with you _and_ him. I don't know. But I want to find out."

“Huh. If you can get her phone again, just do it. Make up some excuse. Tora would do it in a heartbeat if he felt she were in any jeopardy, don’t you think? And why do you think she’s answering the calls?”

“For the same reason she came to the guard booth—to talk to me about _HIM._ My sense is she’s only answering these calls because somehow he might be trying to reach her. Call it a hunch. That brings up another point, Quince.”

“Oh, what’s that?”

“When are we gonna tell her the truth?”

++++++++++++++++++

When Gyu gets home, he decides to re-examine Tora’s texting data itself, rather than the content. 

He decides he’s going to retrace the GPS data, particularly of the last text message. That reminds him of something else.

_I need to ask Quincey if he has finished examining the patterns. I don’t envy him that job!_

Tora’s phone uses wireless GPS, or [enhanced GPS](https://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gps-phone.htm). As one of the prime tech guys for the clan, he chose these phones for them, for just the reason he’s tracking Tora—it can be traced to places where traditional GPS receivers can’t. So people can be tracked under thick foliage, inside buildings, and densely populated cities. It also tracks location faster than standard GPS systems. 

He’s feeling a bit of data fatigue—he’s been staring at numbers for almost a month now, and it’s becoming less and less helpful to them, no matter what he does. 

So he does the only thing he can think of this point: start all over again. This time, he focuses on the GPS data from that text sent to Tora from Vincent, or a least _allegedly_ sent from Vincent. Since he’s focusing on a specific day and time, it doesn’t take him long. He’s so fatigued that he simply pauses his scan at 30 days prior, so he doesn’t have to wait hours for the complete scan.

He is quite shocked at what he missed the first time: the text did not come from the Balthuman home nor Balthuman headquarters—not at all. Gyu rechecks the GPS locations for both, even though he has both locations memorized. 

He looks up the GPS coordinates, and finds that the text came from a location within Narin City, but well away from Ares Street, Vincent’s home, Balthuman Headquarters, and any other Clan related properties that he is aware of, but he’ll look it up on Google maps to be sure. It simply could be that Vincent was in his car, or…? The patterns of the texts may be more important than not, so he sends a message to Quincey right away.

GyuB @QuinceyB>> _Yo bro i forgot to ask how goes the analysis of text u know language and patterns n shit doing another deep dive into data right now_

QuinceyB @GyuB>> _I’m still working on it Y?_

GyuB @QuinceyB>> _how much longer do you think it will take i may have found us another clue but depends on what your doing don’t know if can really explain but had to txt u ASAP_

QuinceyB @GyuB>> _k boo boo i’ll stay up all night to finish it by tomorrow is that too late 😓_

GyuB @QuinceyB>> _no bro that perfect just call when u r done k 🤘🏼_

QuinceyB @GyuB>> _k_

Gyu is a bit startled realizing what he missed, so he runs the data AGAIN to be sure. Same results. Now he just needs to look up where this location might be—and who might be there. It could be in a dead end, or it could be somewhere significant. Does he finally have a legitimate clue?

++++++++++++++++++

Poppy has a normal day, if there ever was such a thing in the last 30 days. 

When she got to the office that morning, Jacob jumped up saying, “Happy Hump Day!” and she wanted to fudging smack him. But she really couldn’t fault him—he doesn’t know anything about Tora, Quincey, the Clan, or anything else that’s been happening the last month. 

_SIGH. And Gil is still MIA, and it’s getting more and more difficult to do things without him contacting us or showing up. I’m lucky if he responds to emails or texts at all. And those two_ **_still_ ** _won’t talk about him._

She arrives home that evening, and the guy at the booth is…not Gyu. Of course she really wasn’t expecting him, but had a glimmer of hope he’d be there. It would have been nice to see a friendly face. And she really wanted to talk to him more about her phone calls, but it will have to wait.

_Oh Mylanta, I am bushed!_

She makes herself a big tofu stir fry for dinner, and reads “Pride and Prejudice” for a while. Finally, she watches a couple episodes of [ ‘Ashes of Love’ ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashes_of_Love_\(TV_series\)) on Netflix, a Chinese romantic-fantasy series while sitting on the floor.

Finally, she gets into bed, turns off her light, and closes her eyes.

Her phone rings, and she goes to her dresser and picks it up. Again it is displaying the “UNKNOWN NUMBER” designation on the screen. For a few rings, she debates whether or not she should answer it this time, but before she can swipe to answer it, the ringing stops. She has no idea why she didn’t react faster. 

She gets back into bed, and settles in for the night.

Several hours later, she is fast asleep and dreaming about climbing that tree, the one she just revisited the day before. But this time she and the cat fall out of it, and [ no one is there ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28323006/chapters/69509913#workskin) to catch her. Needless to say it doesn’t end well for her, so she wakes up panting and sweating in utter terror.

 _No one catches me, and no husky voice either._ She bursts into tears.

++++++++++++++++++

**Day 30 - Thursday**

Poppy wakes up the next morning a little tired, especially after her nightmare. 

_What if I start a journal, or a dream diary with all these details I’ve been finding and processing, just so I can track them? I can combine dreams, memories, and thoughts in one place, and then I can grill Quincey about them the next time I see him. Then maybe I won’t be burdened with all this stuff in my head._

That reminds her that she hadn’t scheduled a Giant Goldfish visit lately for Quincey. She has to call him to get that set up and soon. It makes working on his manuscripts so much easier. It’s increasingly important to connect with him, since Gil seems to be out of commission somehow—whatever it is that’s going on with him. She decides she may talk to Quincey about that, too, since Erdene and Jacob simply refuse.

She finds an empty notebook, putting the day’s date at the top of the page, remembering it’s been 30 days since she last saw Tora. While she has been making efforts not to be negative and perseverate, she feels depressed. 

She gets a pen and starts writing about the nightmare she had the night before. Within 15 minutes she fills an entire page about it. She also adds a note about the phone calls, knowing it will be helpful if they continue, as she’s sure Gyu will be asking about them again.

 _And, wow,_ **_that_ ** _was surprisingly easy to do. Now I just need to do this every day when I wake up._

++++++++++++++++++

At lunch, she calls Quincey, but he doesn’t pick up.

She is so livid, she decides to go to his penthouse to confront him.

_I’ve had enough of this bullshit, Quincey!_

She takes the bus, and gets there in about 20 minutes.

Knocking on the door, Smithy opens it to let her in. Quincey is sitting in the living room with huge piles of paper surrounding him.

“Oh hey, Miss Editor, what’s going on?”

“I need you to tell me what the fudge is going on Quincey.”

“Whatever do you mean, Sugar Pops?”

She’s so upset, that she walks over to the closest stack of paper and shoves it onto the floor.

“Enough, Quincey! Tell me what is going on with him. NOW.”

“Honey, all I can tell you is that he’s deep undercover and incommunicado. That hasn’t chang---”

“Bullshit, Quincey. I call bullshit. Now, come ON. Give me the truth.”

Quincey has a look of alarm on his face, but doesn’t budge.

“Honey, it _is_ the truth. That’s all I can tell you.”

“I think you’re lying to me. I don’t know why, but I don’t believe you.”

She’s so angry, that she walks out.

Quincey sighs at her rapid egress. 

_Of course she’s right, but I just want to protect her, at least for a little while longer._

He picks up the papers she’s knocked over, and gets back to work. He has a deadline, after all.

++++++++++++++++++

Martin, Claude, and Scharch arrive at Balthuman headquarters. Martin believes the meeting will be a bust, since they have nothing. Certainly nothing from Quincey and his underling, Gyu. Or least they didn’t until first thing this morning. Quincey informed him that they found Tora’s car in a small town a few hours away. But he’s debating whether or not he should tell Vincent. But once he informs Vincent, he’ll have a team go out and scour it.

What he’s not going to tell Quincey, Gyu, or even Vincent, is that he has his own resources and his own ways to seek Tora out. 

_F*cking ingrate needs to be purged anyways. From the moment that little shit he ran away as a kid to now, he's been a weak link. Why doesn’t Vincent see it?_

He suspects Tora has been up to no good, up to _something_ , ever since he missed those easy shots. 

The three men are escorted into Vincent’s office, and no time is wasted. As soon as they sit, Vincent speaks up.

“Quincey tells me he found something. What is it?”

 _Well, that takes the decision out of my hands. F*cking Quinceton._  
  
“Found Tora’s car in Chīsana, about 200 miles away from the city.”

Vincent doesn’t really know what to think about that nugget of information, town has no bearing on Balthuman clan business whatsoever. 

“You’ll look into it fully then, right?”

“Of course. I’m assembling my crew now, and we’ll be there if not this afternoon, then tomorrow morning.”

“Get me a report on it as soon as it’s possible--good or bad. Anything else?”

“No, and that’s my point. I think it’s high time we try something else.”

“What do you mean by that Martin?”

“I mean maybe assemble a clan team, one that isn’t so sympathetic to Tora.”

“Go on.”

“I mean, someone _neutral_. Who may have a slant or perspective that Quincey and Gyu don’t have--their _relationship_ with him colors their thinking, their interpretation of what they find. _They_ may think something is worthless, or they may think it’s significant. But what if it’s the opposite? And you have to consider that maybe, just maybe they’re protecting him.”

Vincent reaches over for his ever-present highball glass and takes a gulp. 

“I’ll allow it. I gave Quincey time, and while he did find the car, he hasn’t found anything else either. At least nothing he’s told me. And you’re right. He’s biased. And I have to protect clan interests. But I’m going to let Quincey continue with what he’s doing as well. For the same reason--he _knows_ Tora and can discover things that others might miss. But protecting him? He wouldn’t dare.”

Martin doesn’t reply to this, as he thinks Quinceton is just as insufferable as Tora, but he can’t say it to Vincent, that’s for sure.

_Of course he’d protect him. Isn’t that obvious? F*ck, most of the clan think they’re a couple, for f*ck sake!_

“Understood. I’ll get you a report on the car as soon as I can.”

“You do that. Don’t come back to me until you have something of substance.”

_I won’t be back until I can prove he’s betrayed you, Vincent. Mark my words. He’s a traitor._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to look up the stuff on GPS. Some of what I've written is made up, but the other stuff on GPS is real. I'd have to believe such an organization would have sophisticated tech like enhanced GPS.
> 
> Sorry--may periodically reference my own fanfics as well as others. this time it's where we find out what might have happened if Tora was never born. 
> 
> And I go back and forth between clan and Clan--not sure if it should or should not be caps. So forgive me any inconsistences!


	18. "There's nothin' you could do or say"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poppy and Erdene have a sleepover, and Poppy shares her distress. Martin and his men make their own discoveries. Poppy and Quincey have dinner with Mr. Lam, and more painful memories emerge.

**Day 31 - Friday**

Poppy is beyond happy to be invited to Dene’s for a wine and Netflix sleepover. She needs it more than she thought possible. Between the bullshit from Quincey and the weird phone calls, on top of _everything else_ , she needs some time to blow off some steam. Nothing like some time with her bestie and a good flick. But then again...

“Let’s watch…"

Poppy is desperately trying to find the most distracting movie _ever_ , but every single one seems to have some element in it that she is desperately trying to avoid thinking about. If it's marketed as a drama, it includes romance. If it’s sci-fi, it includes violence. If it’s fantasy, it includes mystery. 

_Fudge,_ **_none_ ** _of them are gonna make me feel better._

“Ah, Dene, just pick one, I don’t care.”

She is desperately trying to hide her distress, especially trying to hide it from Erdene, and doesn't even know if she’s doing an adequate job of covering it all up. So what else does she do? She has another glass of Moscato.

“Ah, I don’t know Pops. I don’t have a clue what to pick, either.”

Their take-out dinner was eaten long before they even looked at film options, so what else was there to do but gossip.

_Not sure if this is going to distract me whatsoever, but I have to say I’ve been curious._

“So, Dene, what’s the deal with you and Damien? I mean did you two break up?”

Erdene looks a bit shocked at this query. They’ve been seeing each other steadily since that joint party, but both decided they needed to do so under the radar, so to speak. So she hasn’t mentioned a thing to anyone, let alone Poppy.

“What do you mean?”

But Poppy just looks at her like she knows about it already.

“C’mon, Dene, you don’t think I know? You are still seeing each other right, still dating, right? You can’t fool me. I mean the chemistry between you two? Mwah!”

_Okay, maybe I’m a little too buzzed to be talking to her about this, but fudge it’s the truth! I want someone to be happy!_

Erdene actually blushes. She _never_ blushes, but she has to admit their little affair is exhilarating, erotic, and she may even be falling for the guy.

“Well, we’re, um, trying to keep in on the down low, you know?”

_I think I do, Erdene, more than you know. Youwillnotcry. Youwillnotcry. Youwillnotcry._

Poppy just looks at her with a small smile on her face, but she can feel her efforts to control her tears are starting to crack.

 _Oh, F*ck, Pops, this is supposed to distract you, not make you think about_ **_him._ ** _But I want to know what’s going on in that pretty little head of yours, so I’m just gonna rip the band-aid off and ask._

“OK—turnabout is fair play. What’s the deal with you and Tiger boy?”

 _Oh, she did_ **_not_ ** _just ask me that._

Poppy just looks at Erdene, and there are definitely tears in her eyes. 

_Oh, I just can’t keep all this emotion bottled up in me anymore. Not after that crap Julri pulled, and now... now… that he’s gone._

“I haven’t seen him in a month, Erdene. He just stopped texting me, calling me, visiting me. I don’t know what I did wrong.”

 _Oh, Poppy. You_ **_really_ ** _don’t know, do you. I swear I’m gonna throttle Quincey, so help me._

“Poppy, I… I…. What makes you think you did anything wrong? I mean….”

“Quincey keeps telling me Tora’s job, his _other_ job, is keeping him busy, that he’s _incommunicado_ and can’t contact _anyone._ But I think… I….. I think Quincey is lying to me, and he’s helping Tora to avoid me. I think Tora wants nothing to do with me anymore, but doesn’t have the guts to tell me that to my face. Working with Quincey right now is honestly a bit excruciating, because the two of them are just so closely tied to each other.”

Of course Erdene doesn't know about Quincey, Tora, and the mafia stuff, and Poppy hasn’t shared anything too revealing. But the tears are now flowing openly down her cheeks. Hearing herself saying all of it out loud makes it much too real. 

“But what if Quincey _is_ telling the truth? That he can’t contact you, for whatever reason. Did you ever think of that?”

But Poppy looks Erdene right in the eyes, and makes an even bigger confession.

“You know, I thought I was prepared to get involved with someone again. I told Tora that I needed some time, some space to take care of myself, and to get close to someone else again, to let _him_ in. I shared with Tora just about everything about Julri—what he did, how he made me feel, and how…. how _scared_ I have been feeling to allow myself to care, especially after meeting him. And he has been so supportive, so caring, so _loving_ , at least until he disappeared on me. Ha, me and my silly sparkly nonsense probably pushed him a little too far over the edge. Stupid baby girl, with my sappy shit, inexperienced naive little fuck that _I_ am.

_Heck, I told him stuff I never even shared with you, but that’s besides the point. He’s done with me. And now I think I’m in even worse shape than when I found Julri in that bitch’s arms._

Dene is shocked, listening to Poppy increasingly denigrate herself, seeing how much of an emotional wreck she now is—when she doesn’t know the truth—not at all. The use of the “f” word cliches it. And the viciousness of her tone, telling her that last bit, how she views herself? Not good.

_QUINCEY—I’m gonna rip you a new one, I swear to the goddess!_

“You know the worst part of it, Dene? I think I am ready now. And I want him. _I think I love him._ And he’ll probably never know, not now. But I don’t think it’s in the cards for me, love, happiness, the whole package. I mean when something, or someone, nice comes into your life, you never want it to end. But nothing lasts forever, and that’s just a part of life. Sometimes things are just...inevitable.

_Oh fudge, I just said that out loud didn’t I?_

“And I miss him, Dene. I mean, I know it’s only been a month, but….”

Poppy just dissolves into a crying, soggy mess, and Erdene doesn’t know what she can do to console her, other than pull her into her arms and hug her tightly.

++++++++++++++++++

After their meeting with Vincent, Martin texted Claude and Scharch before he even got on the elevator at Balthuman Headquarters. They were right there with him, of course, but they have their methods, at least _his_ men had their methods, ones that were effective and efficient. He suspects Tora has his own methods, too, but he give give a rat f*ck about any of that.

The text wasn’t lengthy, nor did it need to be. 

Martin @Claude @Scharch>> _rip it apart_

He didn’t expect a reply from them, not at all. He’s already set up protocols with his men to do what he asks, no exceptions, and almost always, no response required. They know the only reason to contact him is to report any results. If they found nothing, he would expect nothing communicated to him. If they did make any discoveries, he would expect either a text, a phone call, or an in-person visit, depending on the level of urgency and where he might be. 

They already discussed going back to the Tiger’s lair, his apartment, and rip it apart again, to recheck for anything they might have missed. He raved at the two of them, telling them places they should have looked that they didn’t even consider before. So while he technically needed Vincent’s approval to go back, he decided to have them do it anyway. 

_F*cking idiots. I hope you two f*ckers will learn something from this._

They also need to get the car. But the apartment first. The car will need a bit more of a coordinated effort. Since Vincent already knows about it, he’ll have to involve some of the other clan men in checking into it—getting it towed to a clan facility, taking it apart bolt by bolt, scrutinizing every little f*cking screw. There had to be _something_ there to prove that shit’s guilt. Perhaps he’s grasping at straws, but he also knows how clever Tora can be. The fact that he has one of the best tech gurus under him is a factor he cannot ignore. 

_The f*cker is probably twelve steps ahead of us already after a month._

Later that day, he’s getting ready to sit down at a table in Clark’s, to have dinner with Shing Ma, when he gets a text. He knows they must have found something significant.

Scharch @Martin>> _its clean_

Martin @Scharch>> _explain_

Scharch @Martin>> _except for couch TV all stuff gone place is EMPTY_

_What the actual f*ck?!_

Martin @Scharch>> _my office in an hour_

“I’m sorry Shing Ma, but something’s come up and I have to go. We will have to reschedule. I’ll be in touch.”

Shing Ma can’t do anything but watch as Martin gets up out of his seat quickly walking out.

++++++++++++++++++

**Day 32 - Saturday**

In the morning, Poppy wakes up with an excruciating hangover. With a groan she also remembers the confession she made to Erdene. 

_I can’t believe I spilled my guts like that, but I guess there’s nothing I can do about it now._

After a big cup of coffee, some ibuprofen, and a little more quality time with Erdene, Poppy catches a mid-morning bus home, and decides to start a new painting.

She remembers how she found the tree again and that silly little white cat. She’s found a new subject for her latest creation! Poppy chooses it because of all the things she’s been remembering lately, somehow, _this_ didn’t make her sad. She has no idea why, but given what she admitted yesterday, she needs to focus on something that doesn't make her even more upset. 

That plus she knows she’ll see Quincey tonight. She needs to steep herself in as much positivity as she can before she sees him again. 

They have a dinner scheduled with Mr. Lam tonight to share progress on the book project. She would rather cancel, but since Mr. Lam’s availability is sporadic at best, it can’t be avoided. She’ll have to suck it up, and deal with it. It’s not like she has to talk to Quincey directly, at least not very much, and she plans to use her acting skills to the max tonight, to provide a united front to Mr. Lam. He can’t know about any of their drama at Giant Goldfish. 

_Gosh, I hope he doesn’t ask about Gil. Cause your guess is going to be as good as mine,_ _Mr. Lam._

But she’s just so angry with Quincey right now. She knows he’s been lying to her, so she’s just going to give him the cold shoulder. But if he pushes her too far tonight, keeps fudging _lying_ , she’s going to let him feel her wrath. 

++++++++++++++++++

They meet Mr. Lam at Clark’s for dinner at 7 pm sharp. Despite their best efforts, Mr. Lam can sense _something_ going on between the two of them. It’s the first time they’ve met him, together, in person, but the tension can be cut with a knife.

_What is going on with these two?_

“I just want to say again how thrilled I am, Mr. Noyouko, to finally meet you in person. I am flattered you are working with me and Miss Poppylan on this project. My wife simply loved your work, bless her.”

Quincey smiles at him, putting all of his flamboyant feminine charm into his interactions, hoping to counter the strain between him and Poppy.

“Certainly Mr. Lam. And I am pleased with our progress. We anticipate the project to be completed, oh, can’t remember--remind me, Poppylan—what did we decide?”

_Fudging jerk, you’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you._

“Based on our progress, we anticipate another two months, not including proofreading, typesetting, graphic design, and publicity.”

“Splendid! Splendid! Tell me more about each of them, please.”

_Oh, for fudge sakes!_

“Yes, QB, why don’t you start explaining the proofreading process?”

_Ha! Take that, you pain in the butt!_

Quincey is just as good an actor as she is, but he does give her a look, and then starts to explain in his own unique way.

_What the f*ck, Miss Editor?!?_

Just as he starts to respond, she looks over and sees Gyu behind the bar. He doesn’t see her, and she’s not even sure he knows both she and Quincey are there, at all. 

But seeing him there stirs in her a memory that is so painful, she has to excuse herself to go to the bathroom. Walking into that bathroom, though, stirs up an even worse pang of hurt, and she is practically hyperventilating at all of it. She remembers how shocked she was at finding Tora there, after that awful day, before she even really knew him all that well. But he was there and really, he saved her life.

_Will Mr. Lam get whisked away from me again?_

Not likely, Quincey is out there with him, after all. And no clan men are there tonight anyways.

 _But will_ **_he_ ** _be there when I come out?_

Not likely. And that makes her so despondent, she collapses on the bathroom floor, swallowing her sobs.

She can’t bear to leave the bathroom, not quite yet, but she knows she has to go back, even if she’s an emotional wreck. 

_He won’t be there to save me this time._


	19. “I can't escape the way I love you”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After introspection, Poppy returns to her dream diary. Both Gyu and Quincey find clues, but they are small ones. Poppy does more digging on the royal family, finding another name to research. Gyu has a daring plan to help them track what Martin is up to. They lament the lack of any real information to help them find Tora.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> > "Whenever you should doubt your self-worth, remember the lotus flower. Even though it plunges to life from beneath the mud, it does not allow the dirt that surrounds it to affect its growth or beauty.”  
> ~Suzy Kassem

**Day 33 - Sunday**

Poppy wakes up bright and early, even though it’s Sunday. 

She takes her time getting out bed, checking her phone for any calls or texts from Erdene or Quincey. She gets up to make a small breakfast of some tea and toast. After the dinner at Clark’s the night before, she simply has no appetite.

It took a substantial amount of her resolve and energy to walk back out of that bathroom, and finish dinner with Lam and Quincey. She has no way of knowing whether or not either of them could tell how upset she felt after her little bathroom breakdown, but honestly she didn’t care. 

She’s a little embarrassed at the intensity of her emotions, but there’s nothing she can do about it now. She knows that really the best thing she can do is to keep taking care of herself, even if it means acknowledging her true emotions at the same time. Swallowing her disappointment and pain will only make her unhappy, and it’s not healthy. 

_Maybe I need to get in touch with my therapist in Moonbright again._

Poppy went to a child therapist several years ago, first when her mother left the family, and then again after her father’s death. This therapist might be able to refer her to someone in the city, perhaps someone who specializes in abandonment issues? 

_If it weren’t so awful, maybe I could laugh. But look at all the people who have...left me. Deep breaths, girl, deep breaths._

She decides to pull out her “dream diary” notebook. She had felt so much better two mornings ago when she wrote her thoughts down in a diary entry, by hand, no digital interfaces, just word vomits onto the page.

She shakes her head, realizing how focused she was on the sleepover on Friday with Erdene, and then of course she woke up with a hangover on Saturday, so she’s already missed two days. 

_Geesh, can’t even make it more than one day in a row._ Pfft.

Opening the notebook to the next available blank page, she starts writing about her therapist in Moonbright and before long she fills one page, and a little more than that. She poured out words and paragraphs rife with emotions from her past—especially remembering how that therapist helped her back then, after her father’s death in particular, making her feel a bit more capable about managing some of her distress in the here and now. It’s not like she’s back to normal, she’s far from it, but sometimes just acknowledging there might be a problem is a step in the right direction.

_Onward, Poppylan._

Just then she hears the buzz of her phone. Looking at her screen, she sees that Erdene has texted her.

Dene @Pops>> _grand morning to you luv how r ya this fine morn And how was din-din with Lam-kins & the 👑 _

Pops can’t help but snort at the crown emoji. How easily they started calling Quincey “Quincess”—I mean he is kind of a princess and prima dona. 

_Wouldn’t have it any other way._

Pops @Dene>> _went fine Q was a drama queen and 👑 for sure but managed ok Lam asked bout deadlines etc All good on schedule etc etc. BTW thanx 4 being there Friday didn’t mean to be a 😭_

Dene @Pops>> _this boney bitch always got ur back, k u squishy u ❤️ lets do again soon ya?_

Pops @Dene>> _k next ⏱ not so full of angst less 🍷more 🍦perhaps week after next? anyways gotta go TTFN_

_Leave it to Dene to make me feel better, even with just a short text exchange._

Between the diary entry and Dene’s check in, Poppy is feeling considerably better. Now she’s going to finish the painting of the tree, and she knows that too will make her feel good, given the subject matter and how calm she felt when she visited the tree, in real time. She’s pretty certain she’s going to keep this painting for herself and hang it in her kitchen.

++++++++++++++++++

The canvas is finished and now drying in the corner of her apartment, so Poppy gets out her laptop and surfs back to the genealogy page she found before. After logging into her account, she goes back to her account history, as she wants to reexamine the search data with the same names, the _royal_ ones. She had been meaning to get back into this research, as it’s yet another outlet that helps keep her occupied.

_I have no idea why I’m obsessing so much over the royal family. Eh, everybody’s gotta have multiple hobbies right?_

It’s been a few weeks since she last visited the site, but she did remember the alternate royal names she discovered. It’s an understatement to say these names surprised her when they appeared. She starts at the beginning, alphabetically speaking, beginning a larger search of the site using the first royal name, _Asura._

First she’s going to look at actual _people_ linked with the name. Some of the data within the links jibes with the other information she found online (from the historical society website and blog) and in the book, but she is more determined than ever to travel to the palace. 

She’s curious to see it, particularly as there are royal “Asura” family members born as recently as 1996. While finding these names is a coup of a sort, there is not a lot of information about the whole banishment of the family from the Narin City region, other than mention of the royal palace. She actually finds another name connected with the royal family that she will have to investigate as well: _Senshi._

++++++++++++++++++

It’s late in the day when Gyu hears the PING of a text alert, and opens his phone. It’s from one of the few tech contacts he’s made in the Clan. It is nothing more than a simple notification that Tora’s car has been collected and is now in the hands of one of the Clan enclaves specializing in vehicles and data analysis. 

Gyu reads it and winces a bit. Even though he and Quincey agreed to letting the Clan have the car, he had to wonder if the private firm they hired might have found something the Clan techs might actually miss. Given the thoroughness of the Clan protocol and process, it’s unlikely the car will remain intact. He’s not even sure the frame will even remain.

He pulls out his burner to let Quincey know. He also has another idea he wants to discuss with Quincey, one that is significantly risky, but he just thought of it that morning.

GyuB @QuinceyB>> _just got notice they have car and will likely rip it to pieces looking for stuff unlikely we will have a crack at any of it not sure they will let me know anything or not the txt i got might just be a one time deal ya?_

QuinceyB @GyuB>> _thx boo. we knew this would happen any news on other stuff?_

GyuB @QuinceyB>> _no report yet they said it would take a couple more days better to be thorough than slopp ya kno?_

QuinceyB @GyuB>> _yup. I am about done with language scan can u come over tomorrow before shifts? What time good 4 u?_

GyuB @QuinceyB>> _i can do 11?_

QuinceyB @GyuB>> _10-4 c u then_

What Gyu doesn’t say in the text string is he overhead Claude make some comments during his shift at the Black Swan on Friday—Claude and Scharch returned to Tora’s apartment and discovered what he and Quincey had done. But some things will change, at least that is Gyu’s idea anyways, one that might better allow them to track what Martin and men are doing. Gyu is going to think about his idea more and if he still thinks it’s a good idea, he’ll talk about it with Quincey in the morning.

**Day 34 - Monday**

Gyu arrives at Quincey’s a few minutes late the next morning. He would have preferred a little more sleep, but given the unique situation, he could manage. It’s now time to compare notes.

Once Gyu sits down across from Quincey and Smithy, he drops his first bombshell.

“OK. I’ll start. After a deep dive back into the GPS texting data, while Tora thought his last text was from Vincent, it’s more than likely, it really wasn’t. The GPS data shows it’s not from any affiliated Clan property or known hangout. Just so you know, Quince, Vincent would never have such Clan business take place anywhere else, not unless it’s a unique situation.”

“That might explain what I discovered—the language. I read through nearly all the texts on his account from the last four months, and there are not a whole lot of them between the two, but enough. And I had to read through about 1,000 printed pages of texts. Anyways, I focused on any sent from Vincent to Tora. While it was a clever attempt, and I do mean clever, the language patterns, or rather this one text _differs_ from the typical patterns, likely confirm what you’ve suggested. The text he received is not the same as the others, not at all the same pattern or wording. It’s highly suspect.”

“So how can you tell?”

“OK. The text he received? ‘The usual place. 30 minutes.’ Now I read through hundreds of texts from Vincent, and every other one is the same. The same phrases, but usually the time differs, depending where he has to go and a code of some kind that probably only Tora knows, mostly initials.”

Gyu is nodding his head, listening to the detailed information, impressed by the work Quincey has done.

“Anyways, phrases such as ‘Same routine,’ ‘usual collection,’ ‘complete recovery,’ and ‘usual plan.” There are a couple others, but it is oh so subtle. It’s very sly, I must say. If you weren’t trained in language or writing, you’d probably not notice it at all. I wonder if Tora even noticed. But do you see now? The differences?”

“No, explain it to me.”

“The one he received said the usual **_place_**. All the others, I mean ALL the others say things like _**cleanse**_ **,** ** _routine, collection, recovery, plan,_ ** _etc._ Now I want you to think about it. _Place_ means location, spot, area, region. _Cleanse_ is a bit obvious. But _routine_ means process, actions, steps, job. _Collection_ means gather, reap, take. _Recovery_ means take back, claim, retrieval. _Plan_ means operation, instruction, scheme, goal. Do you see now?”

“Oh yeah. I do. Place is location, of course, but none of the others mention place but rather things Tora might have to do, yeah?”

“Exactly. This is the only text from Father to Tora that differs in this very subtle way. I’m starting to think that either Tora was distracted or involved in some sort of plot of some kind. Most significant of all is that there is no code or initials in that last message. So, where is, _what_ is the usual place?”

“Well, I need to look into the GPS location of that last message. Based on what you told me, I have to believe it is NOT any ‘usual place’ that Tora would be going to. Very suspect.”

“I think this is information we need to keep between the three of us. We do not want Martin to know about it.”

Quincey looks back and forth from Gyu to Smithy, and they both nod their heads to concur. 

“Quincey, this brings up another idea I have, but it’s awful risky. But it may help us.”

“Shoot, boo boo, tell us.”

“I would like to get access to Martin’s phone, so we can track what he’s doing.”

Quincey’s jaw drops.

“Gyu, honey, are you f*cking nuts?! Do you know the repercussions of that if you’re caught?”

“I know, I know, but it might help us know what else they’re doing. The reason why is I overhead Claude talking on Friday.”

“What was it about?”

“He and Scharch went back to Tora’s place, and they know what we’ve done. Martin can’t be happy about that.”

Quincey’s face paled a little bit.

“You have no idea, Gyu, or rather you probably do. Still don’t know why the man hates Tora so much but it’s the truth.”

“Anyways, if I can either put some sort of bug or perhaps even clone his phone somehow, I think it will help to know what they’re up to.”

“All I can say is you can try. I mean it’s been so frustrating having so little information. It’s infuriating. I guess the question is how to get access to his phone. I mean the f*cker has it next to him at all times. I don’t even know when he’ll show up here. But he does usually text me when he’s on his way.”

“I may have a way to clone it without him taking it out of his pocket. How much notice does he usually give you when he comes over?”

“One time he told me the night before. The next might have been, I don’t know half an hour before?”

“Let me do more research. And if I can, I’ll set something up so that you can clone it yourself. I’ll show you how.”

“Goodness, boo boo, you’re the tech genius. I don’t know. Will it be difficult to do that?”

“No, if I can manage it, I’ll make it a snap for ya. I already have some ideas, I just need to go home tonight and test it. We’ll have to move quickly, but I will likely set it up so that all you have to do is hit a button. Sound good?”

“I suppose. Anything else to report?”

“Not really, as I said last night, still waiting on forensics. Otherwise, we still have nothing.”

“Oh, well, isn’t that just f*cking depressing.”

“You know it, bro. You know it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nearing the end of “Part I”—and next chapter will contain a “flash forward.” Whew. This is an enormous undertaking, but hope everyone will stay for the show!
> 
> For those who may not know, the titles of first 20 chapters are lyrics to [Billie Eillish’s “I Love You.”](%E2%80%9C) SIGH.


	20. "I don't want to, but I love you"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poppy gets a surprise phone call. Quincey spills his guts to Erdene, and meets again with Martin. We have a refresher back to Day 274 when Poppy finds the postcard, and then the following day when we learn a little more about Poppy’s plans to travel. And Gyu is the ultimate secret keeper...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end of **PART I.** and includes a FLASH FORWARD to Day 275. There are a couple minor plot spoilers, but nothing too revelatory. They will be covered in more detail soon.

**Day 35 - Tuesday**

Poppy arrives right on schedule at Giant Goldfish that morning, and gets right to work. She’s reviewing a particularly long run-on sentence in the Lam book when her phone starts to ring. It’s yet another unknown number. She is still conflicted as to whether or not she should answer these calls anymore, so she again ignores it. After a frustrating hour of trying to edit the unwieldy sentence, Poppy looks down to notice that she has a voice mail message. 

_Huh. That’s never happened before._

She opens her phone, and notices that while the number is unlisted, it is from someone within Narin City. So she opens the message to listen to it. The female voice is vaguely familiar. Then she hears the name—Inspector Lane.

“Hello, Ms. Wilkes. This is Inspector Lane from Narin City Precinct 12? I’m just following up on that complaint you filed back, oh, let me see, oh heck, I don’t have it in front of me. Anyways, we’ve basically exhausted all avenues, and there is simply not enough evidence to press charges, given we can’t even confirm the identity of the perpetrator. I wish I had better news for you, but I wanted to let you know. Have a nice day.” 

CLICK.

Poppy is so stunned that she pulls the phone away from her ear and looks down at it on her screen, to see if perhaps she’s hallucinating. She’s not. She plays the message again, and then she starts to laugh.

_Are you fudging kidding me? Really? I forgot about that ages ago._

Poppy keeps laughing, and laughing, and laughing, and _laughing..._ but suddenly her laugh starts to shift into messy crying that gets Erdene’s attention.

_What the heck, Pops?_

“Poppy, what’s the matter, hon?”

Poppy is crying so hard now she’s beginning to hyperventilate. 

“OK—I’m sending you home. Do you need a cab or an Uber?”

_Hic. Hic._

While she still has some hiccups, somehow she manages to stop her hysterics, but only for so long.

 _Just tell her the truth, at least as much as you can. At least tell Dene what its about,_ **_who_ ** _its about._

“I don’t know if I can even explain it. But it’s, it’s, it’s about _him.”_

The moment she says it, she starts to cry again. Now Jacob is noticing her obvious distress. Erdene is holding her in her arms, rubbing her back, and looks over at Jacob, shaking her head.

_Ah, it’s about Tiger boy. I have got to talk to Quincey. He’s got to tell her the truth. This is not helping her self-esteem. F*ck, we need to fix this, but how??_

“That’s it Poppy, I’m rescheduling Quincey, and you’re going home.”

Poppy is so upset, she doesn’t even protest.

“Jacob, do you think you could call her an Uber, please?”

“Sure, Dene.”

Within 20 minutes, Erdene escorts Poppy out the front door of the building into the back seat of a small hatchback. 

“I’ll stop by after work, OK? I don’t want you to be alone tonight.”

“OK--thanks, Dene.” Poppy is still hiccuping and sniffling while she replies.

No sooner than the car pulls away, then Erdene pulls out her phone calling Quincey. He picks up after a couple rings.

“Dene Bean, heeellloo, darling. What’s up?”

“Quincey, I just had to send Poppy home. She got a phone call, a message, and basically had a breakdown. It had something to do with Tora.”

“Oh.”

“OH?!? For f*ck sake, Quincey, that’s all you can say? You have _got_ to tell her he’s missing. She doesn't know this, believes he’s just avoiding her, and it’s _destroying her._ After the shit her last boyfriend pulled, I don’t think she can handle much more rejection, even if it is conjecture at this point. He didn’t just ditch her, he’s f*cking **_MISSING_** , Quince.”

Quincey is speechless, and doesn’t respond immediately. He has to admit she’s right. But he still has to be careful what he’s telling everyone, especially those outside the Clan. But maybe now he has to tell Erdene more than she knows--that way maybe she’ll understand why he’s so hesitant.

“OK, I guess you’re right, Erdene, but I need to be careful. And there are some things I need to tell you, but I...I…I can’t do that over an open phone line.”

_Whoa, what is that about?_

“Well, I know we need to reschedule your meeting today, but maybe I can come over to your place, and we can talk more about this? I'm pretty sure Jacob can take charge of the office while I’m gone. Besides, I want to go to Poppy’s soon. I’m really worried about her, Quince. She’s not doing well.”

“Come as soon as you can. I gotta go.” 

Quincey hangs up, and Dene makes plans to do just that.

++++++++++++++++++

Erdene shows up at Quincey’s door within an hour. 

She knocks on the door, and Smithy lets her in. 

“OK, I’m here. Spill.”

The three sit down in the living room, and he just blurts it right out.

“Erdene, I’m in the mafia.”

“WHAT?!?”

“So is Tora, so is Smithy, here. I’m actually supposed to take over eventually--who knows when--once my father steps down.”

“So not only are you in the mafia, but you’re gonna….be a _don?!_ ”

“Yes. No sense sugar coating it. I need you to understand the complexities of what is going on, especially since Tora is now missing.”

“Go on. I’m listening. I’m assuming Poppy knows this?”

“Actually she knows about us being in the mafia. She’s known before I even signed my contract with Giant Goldfish. Anyways, Tora is a...he’s a...he’s my Father’s enforcer, an assassin. I don’t know a lot about what he does, but he’s involved in the nasty stuff, to be honest. Smithy here, not so much, but Tora is a whole different beast, no pun intended.”

“So do you know anything, anything at all about why? Where? How?”

“Believe it or not, we know almost nothing. Now I’m going to tell you one more thing, and you CANNOT say a word outside this apartment. We have it set up--me, Smithy, and Gyu, you’ve met him, right? We have it set up so that no one can eavesdrop or record any audio in this apartment. Super secret extreme precautions. Anyways, you cannot repeat what I’m about to tell you.”

All Erdene can do is nod to Quincey, indicating he should continue.

“We are doing a bit of a separate investigation, one that the Clan isn’t exactly aware of. See, we three men? We are all close to Tora, but many of the Clan men? They… they… want to take Tora _out_ , honestly. My father is the only thing keeping safe, or at least _was_ keeping him safe until he disappeared. The man he put in charge of the Clan’s investigation, his name is Martin, he _hates_ Tora. He’s hated him ever since Tora was plucked from an orphanage when he was practically a baby. My father saw something in Tora, a savage kid, a tough cookie, but Martin saw a belligerent f*cker who’s a weakness. He’ll do anything to discredit Tora. Hell, he may even be responsible for his disappearance, but there is simply not enough information. We are beyond frustrated.”

 _What the f*ck am I saying?_ **_Safe_ ** _is nonexistent in the Clan. But that’s the best way to explain it to her._

“Wow, Quince. Just WOW. That is a lot to take in. I guess I can see why you haven’t exactly told Poppylan the truth.”

“Anyways, that’s the situation, and we are at a standstill. There are one or two leads, but they are so small, it’s practically hopeless. In fact, I just got a text before you got here. I’ve got to meet Martin very soon, so you will need to leave ASAP. I can’t jeopardize you, too. But depending how our meeting goes, I will likely have to tell her the truth. Honestly, this is a complete and utter mess.”

Erdene can see that Quincey is practically in tears. 

_This is just so f*cking awful, and I don’t know what I can do to help._

"I gotta get back to the office, Quince. I think we need to talk more about this. I'll text you when I get to Poppy's tonight."

"Bye Dene. Talk to you later."

Erdene walks out, and Quincey whips out his burner to text Gyu.

QuinceyB @GyuB>> _hey boo boo got a mtg w Martin in about 20 minutes i assume nothing new on yur end? The get up is in my kitchen drawer so we are go on that end_

GyuB @QuinceyB>> _sorry bro got nadda should be a snap to hit the button and go should take i don’t now 5 minutes or so to finish? so we will have to check in after Martin leaves ya?_

QuinceyB @GyuB>> _yes, for sure im beyond frustrated boo boo i feel so lost i will txt u as soon as he leaves so you can come get the thingy i hope it works its just so frickin risky_

GyuB @QuinceyB>> _with the jammer installed he’ll have no idea what we’re doin my tech skills are legendary dude dont ya got any confidence in me?_

QuinceyB @GyuB>> _yes booboo your kung fu is good more later he’s gonna be here any min TTFN_

++++++++++++++++++

Not 10 minutes after Quincey’s last text to Gyu, there is a knock on Quincey’s front door. Martin has arrived. Smithy opens the door and escorts him inside. Claude is with him. Quincey is standing in his kitchen, with the drawer next to his stove open. He quickly hits the button on the cloning device Gyu created to copy Martin’s phone, as they previously discussed. Quietly and slowly he pushes the drawer shut. Even though it’s not even noon yet, Quincey pulls a glass out of his cupboard, and pours himself a generous portion of Moscato. He’s gonna need it for another meeting with Martin.

Martin and Claude are sitting on the couch, with Smithy on one of the adjacent chairs. Quincey sits down on the other chair, facing Smithy.

“Well, Martin, we have nothing to report. You have the car of course, but really we have nothing else.”

Martin just sits there, watching Quincey sip more of his wine, with a bit of a disgusted look on his face. And doesn't respond for a few more minutes. It’s a bit unnerving. But nothing prepares him for what Martin asks him.

“Tell me about Poppylan Wilkes.”  
  
Quincey has just taken a huge sip of wine which he almost spews out across the coffee table. Somehow he _just...just manages_ not to, and can’t help but have a flash of memory--that night at Gudrun's with Tora, Poppy, and Cordelia, when he spewed a mouthful of wine all over Poppy’s face.

_FFFF***CCCCKKK!! Not my finest moment. And if I did that in front of Martin, I'd likely be doomed._

“She’s my editor.”

“And?”

“That’s it. Why do you ask?”

“Apparently the last place Tora visited the day he disappeared was her apartment.”

 _Oh, f*ck Poppy. How the f*ck did Martin learn about_ **_that?_ **

“Huh. That’s news to me. As far as I know, they’ve only met through me, at her office. At Giant Goldfish.”

_OOOooo, that is just a huge lie. But let’s see what Martin says to that. F*cking bastard._

“So you have no idea why he would be there?”

“No, not at all. She’s a civilian. He’s... _not_ . What else can I tell you?”

Martin just stares at Quincey. And luck is with Quincey that day, because he has on the best poker face of his life. F*ck he could win the Oscar, honestly he is acting so well.

“Well, we need to look into her more. You say she’s your editor?”

“Yes. We’ve been working together, oh, geesh, what’s it been Smithy? Two, three months? It’s been such a pleasure, it’s gone by so fast!”

_OK, bitch, rein yourself in, don’t overdo the drama for this f*ck._

“I’ll be investigating her more, Quincey. Just know this. Do you have anything for me?”

“No, other than the car, I’m afraid not, Martin.”

Martin and then Claude get up off the couch and leave, saying nothing else. 

_Such a chatty motherf*cker._

Quincey gulps the rest of his wine, completely distressed at the new direction things are now taking. He pulls his burner back out.

QuinceyB @GyuB>> _he’s gone i haven’t checked the gizmo but you need to get your ass here pronto drop everything we have got to talk and its not good boo boo :(_

GyuB @QuinceyB >> _have a shift in an hour how long we talking?_

QuinceyB @GyuB>> _call in sick its an emergency get your f*cking ass over here NOW_

Gyu sees this message and gulps. 

_What now?!?_

++++++++++++++++++

FLASH FORWARD

 **Recap - Day 274 - Tuesday - Nine months after Tora’s disappearance (just for reference--this is repeating the prologue to** [ **Chapter 1** ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28596864/chapters/70086558) **)**

 _This postcard…._ Poppy thought to herself.

The card just seemed to magically appear on her fridge door, under a random magnet. With a touristy photo of a luscious, beautiful blue beach, it did not have any message written on it, nor was it addressed to her. It was completely blank.

_Was that there before? Did I just not notice it? It obviously has some reason being here, right? Why else would it be there otherwise?_

After a few minutes of staring at it, she began to have an unexplained, nagging sense that it had more significance than not, especially given the situation and her life at the moment. She suddenly decided what she was going to do, _had_ to do. Right away, before she over-thought it or chickened out, she sent Quincey a quick text and asked if he knew a good travel agent. 

She sighed and admitted, _I don’t think I could have made it this far if it weren’t for the work I’ve been doing with Quincey._

Working with him turned out to be one of the most interesting (and professionally speaking, perfect) things that happened to her in the past year, heck especially the past 9 months—he has been a lifeline. Well, there is that and a certain 6 foot something black haired tiger, too. One who she is desperately missing.

It was a bit exhilarating deciding to do this, on a completely utter whim, traveling to the exotic, beautiful locale on the card. Maybe that’s why it was on her fridge--she needs a vacation, right? To use a word she almost never does? _F*ck it._ What did she have to lose? She felt she had already lost so much in her life, the hell with it. 

Everything had happened so fast with Tora and then Quincey, but the many long weeks since that one day had been rough. Really fudging rough for Poppy. She did a lot for Gil and Goldfish Publishing, of course. Especially during some of the worst emotional moments since her father died, notably when Julri cheated on her and now this. _When something nice comes into your life… You never want it to end._ She thought to herself back then. _Indeed._

 _PING._ A return text from Quincey appeared: _“Sure, Miss Editor. I’ll text u the info or I can set u up with the Clan jet. Thinking of you today, as usual. How r u?”_

 _Bless you, Quincey, s_ he told herself. She texted back a simple reply:

 _“OK. I will be in touch.”_ She didn’t add this to her text but thought of asking him later _, hey maybe going on a tropical getaway—wanna come?_ But she simply couldn’t engage in any personal conversations at that moment, as she began falling back into memories that simply hurt too much. Memories that she is still trying to cope with.

**Day 275 - Wednesday - Nine months after “Day 1," the day after she finds the Postcard. (NOTE: SOME STORY SPOILERS but nothing earth shattering)**

Poppy has thought about it all night, and calls Quincey to tell him her plan. She has to wait until it’s a decent time, at least a decent time to call _Quincey._ The man usually sleeps much later than her.

“Good morning, Sugar Pops. What say you this fine Hump Day?”

Poppy can’t help but laugh. _He’s always so good at making me smile._

“So I’m calling about the text I sent you last night, you know, about the travel agent? And you said there may be a Clan jet, too?”

“Yes."

"Anyways, let me just say it: how would you like to go on a tropical getaway with me? I can’t possibly go by myself, and I already know Erdene is in the middle of several projects, you know this of course.”

“Why, Pops, I would _love_ to run away, lover. Just you and MOI? Splendid, honey! And where to?”

“It’s called [ Siargao ](https://www.tripsavvy.com/unforgettable-beaches-in-southeast-asia-4427673) Beach. I’m going to email you some deets.”

“OOO, and where is it?”  
  
“The eastern shore of the Philippines, facing the Pacific.”

What Poppy _doesn’t_ tell him is that it’s the location on this postcard, this _silly_ postcard she found pinned to her fridge just the day before. That she has some weird sense telling her to travel there as soon as she can. 

_Women’s intuition is a funny thing, Quincey._

“Anyways, I will take care of the jet, sweetie. It’s the Balthuman jet, and I can afford it. We won’t have to deal with any shitty airlines. Now that I think of it, one of my Father’s business associates has a place in the Philippines. I’ll have to find out how close it might be to this Siargao Beach. Maybe we’ll get lucky!”

“Sounds wonderful, Q. I appreciate you willing to come with me. Otherwise, I don’t think Erdene would allow me to go otherwise. We had a long chat last night, and she knows what it’s like for a woman traveling alone to such a remote spot. It’s just not done.”

“Of course, honey. And anything crucial for Goldfish is already being handled by Jacob and Erdene. You’ve done so much for us, I don’t see a problem with you taking a real vacation for once.” 

She hasn’t taken a break from work for months, not since he took over at Goldfish. He could kick himself. Weeks ago they discussed hiring more staff, but decided against it, but mostly because they were simply too busy to interview anyone. Nothing he can do about it now. Maybe when they return from this vacation, they can revisit this idea again.

“Anyways, I’m thankful for this Quincey. Do you have any idea how long it will take to make all the arrangements?”

“It will depend on whether or not this contact has a place near the beach, where we’re traveling, then we’ll know. It may take a couple days to get the number from Father. And it will depend on whether someone is staying there, and so on.”

“Ah, gotcha. I understand.”

She can’t believe it’s all coming together and so quickly. 

“And now, we have **got** to go shopping for clothes for the trip.”

“Of course, I know I don’t have any beach clothes, at least ones that will fit me. I haven’t gotten a new bathing suit since...high school?”

Quincey feels bad. They had an intervention for Poppy about a month and a half ago. He and Erdene were simply worried. She had lost weight, and her pallor had been noticeable. While she gained a couple pounds back, she is still skinner than either of them would like. The fact that she has no beach clothes that fit only makes him think of those desperate days when they whisked her away to a spa for a wellness retreat. No matter what, though, there is still a spark missing from her. He doesn’t know if she’ll ever get it back, but he’s willing to do what he can to make her feel better, more confident about herself.

“Oh my, we so need to get you a hot new suit, girlfriend! So, let’s plan on shopping this Saturday, OK?”

“Sounds great, Quincey! Love you!”

“Love you, too, Sugar Pops.”

After he hangs up, he finds his burner and texts Gyu. Even though it’s been months since Tora has been gone, they keep the jammer in his apartment running, and anything to do with Poppy, meetings, phone calls, and texts, they continue to use burners to communicate. Even though he’s been gone a long time, they simply won’t give up hope. Sure, there are still days when they are so distraught that they can barely function, but they won’t stop, never, not until they know for sure. They just _have to know._

Quincey already contacted Gyu yesterday, after Poppy’s inquiry. Gyu continues to be his go to guy about _everything._ He still doesn’t know where Poppy got the information on Siargao Beach, but wants Gyu to look into it as only _he_ can, and plans to call his Father later in the day. He’s pretty sure that Miyagi Dōryō’s cottage is on the east coast of the Philippines, but can’t be sure where. He’ll have to connect with Erdene, too, to go over any current projects and to talk in general about Poppy and this trip. He’s thankful that Erdene is supportive and does so much for Goldfish. 

QuinceyB @GyuB>> _hey boo, following up from yesterday get me all you know about Siargao Beach k? Email it to my photon inbox ya?_

GyuB @QuinceyB>>you got it bro anything else? 

QuinceyB @GyuB> _Anything on_ _Miyagi Dōryō would be helpful 2 thats it for now_

GyuB @QuinceyB>> _K bro_

++++++++++++++++++

After he signs off the text thread with Quincey, Gyu breathes in deeply and laughs, a huge grin on his face. He just has to keep the secrets from Quincey for just a couple more days. He’s kept the secrets for this long. What’s a few more days? 

_Wow, this is really happening!_

_Finally--f*ck, yes!_

_And of course Quincey doesn’t know. Thank goodness he doesn’t, I mean, how could he? He'd f*cking give it all away!_

_Anyways, we planned it this way. I’ve done my job, and I’ve done it_ **_well_** _. I’ve been working on my end for three f*cking months. I know they've been working on it for_ **_nine_.**

 _I don't know how they managed it, but it'll be worth it. It’s_ **_all_ ** _gonna be worth it._

_God I hope really hope so._

**End of Part 1**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay in updates. It's part way through the semester and have not had as much time to write. Plus I have wicked tendonitis! ICK! Sorry for the seriously illegal cliffhanger, but there is plenty more to come! I swear!


	21. “Listen, seeing you got ritualistic”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beginning of Part 2  
> Gyu and Quincey discuss the repercussions of what Martin knows about Poppy. Gyu calls his sister to get her help. Jacob admits he knows Tora is _le Greek God_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> > “It is in your power to withdraw yourself whenever you desire. Perfect tranquillity within consists in the good ordering of the mind, the realm of your own.”  
> ~Marcus Aurelius - _Meditations_

**Day 35 - Tuesday**

Somehow Gyu manages to call in sick for his shift. He may have also insinuated its relationship to clan business, but Quincey seems so insistent they talk. He arrives at Quincey’s right about the time he was supposed to start his shift.

Before Gyu can even knock on Quincey’s front door, it’s flung open in front of him.

“GYU! Thank f*ck! Get your ass in here, pronto.”

 _Whoa, what the f*ck, bro? You are NEVER this frazzled_. 

Gyu knows he met with Martin about an hour ago, but something must have happened, or been revealed during this meeting.

“Yo, bro, what gives?”

“Just sit your ass down. We have some things to talk about, and _that’s_ putting it lightly.”

Gyu removes his coat and goes to sit down in the living room with Quincey and Smithey.

“So how’d the meeting go with Martin?”

“HA! Not good.”

“Whatta ya mea—“

“They asked me about Poppy.”

Gyu is shocked at this revelation. No matter what had been happening over the past months, he didn’t think anyone in the clan had an inkling about Poppy other than she’s now Quincey’s editor. Well, with the exception of some of Tora’s men. Even after the party, not everyone was aware of their relationship. At least it seemed that way…

“Focus, Gyu, focus.”

“Sorry, bro.”

“Anyways, the first thing out of that f*ckers mouth today? ‘Tell me about Poppylan Wilkes.’”

For someone at Martin’s level in the clan to be asking about her, especially outside the context of her work with Quincey, is indeed concerning.

“WOW. That’s...wow.”

“And. AND. He _knows_ Tora was last seen at her apartment. But anyways, of course, I played dumb. I told him that she’s my editor. But I have no idea how he could know anything about her relationship with Tora.”

“Well, f*ck. How the hell did he find out about _that_ Quince?”

“Smithy and I have been over and over it—we didn’t give him that information. Was any of that information included in any data or anything you handed over to him already?”

“Nope. I’ve been using the same protocol I’ve always been using. When Big Bro tells me mums the word, _mums_ the word.”

“The bigger issue now is whether or not Poppy is now in danger. He told me he’s now going to be looking into her background. I mean I don’t think he’s going to find anything substantial, but the larger issue is how he knows Tora was with her before he disappeared and any repercussions.”

Gyu stops to think about it more. 

_Who the f*ck… I mean_ **_how_ ** _did Martin get that tidbit of information?_

“Well, did you activate the cloning device? We need to check it out, pronto. To see if it worked. Maybe we can get something from that.”

“Sure, boo boo. It’s here.”

Quincey walks to the drawer in his kitchen, pulling out the device, and hands it to Gyu.

“Cool. Just to be sure, I’m going to rescan your apartment, and make sure the jammer doesn’t need a firmware update. We simply cannot be too careful. I want to check the software on all our burners. Now, I do have a data dump to do, so as soon as I’m done with that, I’ll take the cloning device back to my apartment and see what I can dig up. And if we are extremely lucky, I’ll clone his phone, so we can start to listen in on all his conversations and read all of his text threads. I need to tell you again, bro, this is a _huge gamble_ we are taking doing this with Martin’s phone.”

Quincey didn’t understand some of the technicalities, but agrees that they simple need to be cautious about what they are doing. He can’t speak. He simply nods his understanding to Gyu who gets to work.

++++++++++++++++++

Two to three hours later, the relevant scans are done, the data dump completed, and Gyu is on his way home. He now knows has to call her. He now has no choice, and they are all at their wits end. It’s possible that some of the relevant information about the investigation into Tora has made its way to the police, and the one of the clan moles may have found it as well. 

_And that clan mole probably buried it, but passed it on to Martin. Maybe Martin put them on alert to share any relevant stuff? Sis will know._

As soon as he walks in his door, he pulls out his burner and texts his sister.

GyuB @SistaLane>> _yo sis, gotta talk ya got a sec? On my B_

This is a standard communique with his sister to text him back on the burner he gave her over a year ago. She is a unique person—she’s really a good detective, but she’s been helping Gyu with clan stuff for a long time. And he knows she’s been trying to get Tora on her side for a while. She’s been working relentlessly to bring down Vincent and the clan, but it’s been almost impossible without an insider. And Tora has been persistently...resistant. 

SistaLane @GyuB>> _k call u in 15_

Fifteen minutes later, his burner rings, SistaLaneB showing up on the caller ID, and he instantly picks up.

“Yo, sista, thanks for calling me back.”

“OK, I’m gonna give you 20 minutes. I’m in the safe zone you told me about. Spill.”

“Well, long story short, Sis, Tora is missing.”

The line is quiet for a couple minutes.

“Wow. Really? How long has it been?”

“About five weeks.”

“Are you shitting me, G?”

“Nope. Anyways, the reason why I’m calling is, well, I need your _special_ kind of help. Do you have any dirt you can give me? Anything at _all_? And I gotta believe the clan snitch in your ranks has been fed some information that, well, let’s just say I wish they didn’t know about.”

“Well, what do you know? Tell me what you got.”

Gyu spends several minutes explaining their efforts to trace him the past five weeks, relaying the frustration of not having a lot of information. 

“Let me check my sources and my files. I don’t have anything I can tell you off the top of my head. No missing persons report, I know that much. I don’t know for sure if the clan snitch in our squad is the same person. I know they are the bane of my existence, as any information collected disappears with regularity.”

“OK. How soon can you get back to me?”

“Give me a few days, G. And you need to come over for dinner soon, you hear me? The kids miss ya.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, sista, I hear ya. Anyways, I gotta go. Love ya.”

“Bye bye G. Talk soon.”

++++++++++++++++++

Walking back to her work station, Lane is a bit pensive after the phone call with her brother. She’s impressed with how much Gyu and his friends know about Tora’s vanishing act. But unbeknownst to them, she has been keeping secrets. And its much too soon to reveal them. It’s going to be difficult to keep the information hidden, but it will be worth it in the end. 

_I just hope he’ll forgive me._

++++++++++++++++++

Scharch wasn’t at the meeting with Martin that morning, Martin said he wasn’t needed. Frankly he’s glad. It’s giving him time to follow around this Poppy chick. ****

He’s been hanging outside Giant Goldfish. He arrived early, knowing she’d show up at some point. After a couple hours, he sees her come back downstairs with a tall chick with purple hair, who is helping her get into an Uber. She doesn’t look too happy.

_Waa, waa, boo hoo. Too bad so sad, ya bitch._

He watches as the purple haired woman talks to Poppy, tucks her into the back seat, shuts the door, and watches as the car drives away. ****

 _And_ **_f*ck_ ** _I can’t track an Uber._ _I’ll have to try again tomorrow. Need to find out where ya live. It’s just a matter of time until I get you, sweetheart..._

++++++++++++++++++

**Day 36 - Wednesday**

After the long emotional day Poppy had the day before, she’s back at her desk, raring to go. Seems a day of crying, ice cream, and Netflix helped. It _helped_ **a lot**.

As Poppy is putting away her purse, she looks up to notice Erdene is not in the office yet. No idea why, but whatever. But since Poppy needs to make up for missing most of work yesterday, she gets started. It’s not long after she opens a chapter of the Lam project when Jacob arrives.

“Hey, Pops. Are you… doing better today?”

“Yes, Jacob. Thanks.”

“Cool, cool, cool. Um, I meant to ask you a question.”

“Oh? Ask away.”

“I wanted to ask you without Erdene lurking over my shoulder.”

Poppy snorts a bit at that. She loves Dene who is always protecting her from Jacob’s inane shit.

“Anyways… Tora is _le Greek God_ , isn’t he.”

Poppy is startled that Jacob has now connected the dots. 

_After all this time, he’s just now telling me?_

For some reason, this makes her smile widely, and she giggles.

“Yes. He is. How did you figure it out?”

“Yes! I knew it! Well, when he first showed up here as Quincey’s bodyguard, I knew there was something familiar about him. But it didn’t really click until after the birthday party.”

“And thanks, Jacob, for keeping my secret about that night. And about that—you are the only one who knows. So it has to _remain_ a secret, got it?”

“Sure, Pops. You know he speaks so highly of you, and said you told him nice things about me, too. Thanks for that.”

Poppy is surprised to learn this. Tora is such a surly man to begin with, so when she speaks up about the shit Jacob always gives her, he gets even grumpier.

“You’re welcome, Jacob.”

“Right. Anyways, have you seen him lately? I mean, he hasn’t come into the office with Quincey for awhile.”

“No, I haven’t, sorry.”

“Well, whe—“

“I gotta get to work, Jacob. Can we talk about this later?”

It took every effort for Poppy to not go ballistic and snarl at him. She has just gotten to a point where she’s functional, especially after that ridiculous phone call the day before, and Jacob just up and ruins everything. 

“Sure, Pops.”

Jacob can now tell that Tora is sore subject, so he goes back to sit at his desk.

She blinks back the tears starting to form in her eyes, and gets back to work herself.

_Maybe at some point I’ll find out what’s really going on... and where he really is._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delays. More coming of course! And apologies for a slightly shorter chapter.


	22. “Cleansin' my soul of addiction for now”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s now Day 37, not that’s she’s counting (but of course she is). Poppy is still annoyed at Gil’s continued absence at Giant Goldfish. She arranges to visit the Narin City Historical Society with Erdene. She finds and reads some diary entries written by Queen Yuwa. And she confirms dinner with Cordelia.

_Day 37 - Thursday_

Poppy arrives at work earlier than usual, hoping Gil would finally drag his ass in today. Booting up her computer and checking her email, she’s disappointed to find another message from him, with the standard subject line.

> _FROM: Gil Bosu {gbosu@ggp.com}_
> 
> _TO:_ _Erdene Eris Sōzokujin (相続人) {eesozoku_ _@ggp.com}_ _; Poppylan Wilkes {pwilkes@ggp.com}; Jacob Otokonoko {jotokono_ _@ggp.com}_
> 
> _SUBJECT: [GGP] Business as Usual Again Today_
> 
> _Good morning, guys. I won’t be in again tod—_

Poppy doesn’t need to read it beyond the first few words, as it’s practically an automated message. It’s obvious now he will not be in AGAIN. 

_What the fudge is up with this guy? I mean it’s probably nice to be able to work remotely but still..... And Jacob and Erdene still will not talk about it._

Even though Gil hasn’t physically shown up in the Giant Goldfish office for a while, she can’t deny how things have continued to run smoothly. Poppy simply wishes she could see him in person once in a while. She believes that there are simply some things you need to do in person in a work setting. Of course telecommuting is useful, but she’s always felt a bit traditionally about working in person and such work standards. 

It also seems to her that there is now just something off about Gil, and she’s had this vibe about him. It started right around the time they signed Quincey. Maybe she’ll talk more to Quincey about the whole situation, since Jacob and Erdene simply change the subject the moment Gil’s name flies out of her mouth. She and Quincey have been working well together. His eccentricity and wit mesh well with her practicality and serious work ethic. 

_How I can possibly deny it—Quincey and I simply work best when we work_ **_together_** _._

She just wishes he hasn’t been so irritating lately, especially being honest about _him_.

_And just like that—good mood gone. Sigh._

She does the only thing she can do. What’s she’s been doing for over a month now, the only thing that helps her cope with _life_. She gets to work.

++++++++++++++++++

That night, she sends a quick text to Quincey about Gil.

Pops @Quincey>> _hey Q. I gotta talk to you about Gil. When might be a good time?_

He must be out, as she doesn’t get a response from him. So while she’s waiting for a response, she goes back to dig into the royal family stuff again. She still hasn’t discussed what she’s found about the connection between the royal family’s exile and the Balthuman family with Quincey yet, but she’s been...distracted to say the least. 

_Sigh. I don’t want to bother him with my petty little side obsession, but maybe it’s just the distraction I need? Hmmm…. I’ll ask him if he ever texts me back tonight._

She’s discovered the palace on the map, and can see it’s a bit far away, and it would take at least a day to travel there. 

_I know—I’ll ask Erdene if she’s come with me. She probably doesn’t remember how obsessed I am with this stuff, though. In fact, we need to go to the Historical Society first. Then maybe I can convince her to come with me._

She gets out her phone, and starts a new thread with Erdene.

Pops: @Dene >> _hey boney bitch, it’s me_

Dene: @Pops>> _sup Popplin fresh_

Poppy has to snigger at the newest nickname. Honestly, if she didn’t have all these little things to make her laugh, what would she do? 

Pops: @Dene >> _remember Narin City Historical Society? Ya gonna come with?_

The three dots appear and disappear, appear and disappear. _Hmm… that a no?_

Pops: @Dene >> _Remember dis guy?_

She attaches a picture, but a very different one. Not the same one she sent three weeks ago. _This_ one is even better. Poppy smirks as she taps on the head shot of Ulaan. _Dude was seriously hot. Whew!_ She believes _this_ will force Dene’s hand in the matter.

Dene: @Pops>> _Whoa. I needed that reminder, Pops. Hot royalty 🥵👑 for the score. When do ya wanna go?_

Pops: @Dene >> _as long as the perm display on Asura/Ulaan is open, doesn’t matter. And i want to visit the palace too._

She has to think a minute to see when its open, but then she remembers. 

_That’s right. I found out the hours didn’t I. She opens her files on the royal family, and quickly finds what she’s looking for._

Pops: @Dene >> _for your info, NCHS open Tuesday-Thursday, 9am-4pm and Saturday, 10am-2pm. So sat, ya?_

Dene: @Pops>> _sure lets do lunch then we’ll go drool over da 🤴_

Pops: @Dene>> _lets book it Dene c u tomorrow BB!_

All this discussion of Ulaan and the royal family has Poppy bringing up her search history. It’s been a while since she read anything, so she finds some of the links she saved the last time she read up on them. 

She spends half an hour clicking through the links when she finds an obscure link, one that’s practically priceless, at least to her it is. It’s a site that has photos of old scrolls written in Jōdai Nihon-go (上代日本語), one of the oldest forms of the Japanese language. They were translated by a scholar in the 1950s, and to Poppy’s utter delight, they are selected diary entries of Queen Yuwa. These entrries were reproduced in a periodical about ancient Japan.

She downloads copies and starts to read in earnest.

First she can tell that not all of the information is complete. It appears the original scrolls were heavily damaged, so there isn’t even a date, but given the subject matter, the scholar who located them could definitely discern the author and subject matter. She opens one at random. There are gaps in the writing, but she reads on. The more she reads, though, she gets very sad and quite weepy:

> _...asked again, and now I am filled with a grief so profound I can barely breathe. After the battle in the ….. ion,.....confirms what every other general has told me …... heavy losses in the battle at Olzii. But each one I ask utters the same—he has died in the battle. My heart feels a loss so…… I must now face the truth. Life may never be the same._

Poppy remembers now that for a long time, Yuwa was under the impression that Ulaan had died in battle. _How fudging awful…_ She keeps reading, and she can practically feel the regal woman’s pain bleeding through the words she’s written. The next entry she reads was written about the time Yuwa has returned home after his presumed death:

> _….arrived back home to Shan Kingdom …. father and Yujen have bee… father has no idea, but Yujen likely knows my heart is broken. I cannot bring myself to tell her the truth, not yet. But every day I breathe in and out, I try to eat but have no appetite. I still feel so sick. I haven’t even been able to write in weeks. I cannot purge my mind of the memories, when Shan soldiers in league with Quan-Li men raided Ulaan’s northern camp. Shan sold…..abscond…. dragged me away before I could warn anyo….. I desperately hope those civil…...aged to escape before those horrible men burned it all to the ground. ...all I have left is his mother’s gown and memories of being with him, body and soul, his lips upon mine, his body holding me in such ….sionate embrac…… i feel we had a lov…. ages._

Wow. Even with the gaps in what’s written, she finds a little nugget, something very private:

> _My last hope for a connection to him simply will not come to pass. ...ood flows like it does every cycle, dashing my hopes for a chil…. it was my last hope to bind me to him forever… Father is already discussing a potential arrangement with another allied kingdom, but the idea of being with another man sickens me. I do not know how I can be a bride, as my purity is gone. I must discuss this more with Yujen. She will likely aid me in seeking an appropriate match, one who may allow me to remain chaste for the re…. of my lif…._

_Whoa. That is something I never read about! She had hoped to have Ulaan’s baby?! And was facing the potential of being married off. Wow. How would that...work back then, when virginity was much more important than it is now._

Poppy then selects another entry, this one is pristine and intact:

> _Grand advisor has managed to aid me in ways I could not have foreseen, and I would never admit it to anyone, but I am incredibly grateful for his machinations. Still as I listen to how he and my father whisper amongst themselves, stopping whenever I am near, I sense there is something they are keeping from me, something to do with my alleged capture. I will not share my experiences or knowledge of my time in the North with him. What more could I offer them than what they already know about the Northern Demon Asura? The truth would only be denied. I hold the truth of who he is, who he was, in my heart. I will hold my memory of him within my mind to remain my deepest secret. Perhaps one of his older brothers will now serve as an admirable successor but it may be difficult to purge the legend he’s left behind._
> 
> _Advisor has always been a cunning man, and I know now he has taught me well. It’s likely there are palace politics at play all around me. Despite my detached nature, I also feign ignorance. I haven’t had the will to ask him or my father, nor even discuss it with my brothers and sister. But I feel myself getting stronger every day. My body breathes in and out, in and out. I continue to witness the passage of time, and I know how the pain residing in my heart is proof that I am still alive. So I go on. I could not have survived as long as I have without Advisor’s patience as well as how he has intervened with other palace officials. He has been fabricating a narrative, one to explain my condition the past several weeks. It has been through this story of his that I have had time to even process my losses. I know he has been telling whoever asks that I suffered a blow to the head, a blatant lie, but I cannot force myself to object and correct this falsehood. My handmaidens often witness my distress, and I can hear them talking about me. They know more of the truth than anyone else. I barely have the energy to look up at them as they speak to me, let alone think of anything more than existing. I still feel empty, barren, tired, and barely alive. They frequently find me in same sad state in my compound within the palace, mostly staring off into the distance. It will likely take me many moons before I can emerge, where I might be able to face scrutiny of others._

After reading this particular entry, Poppy realizes her own situation isn’t half as bad as what Yuwa went through. But Yuwa’s story had a happy ending. Poppy simply doesn’t know how her own story will end, not yet.

_She was a remarkable woman. I hope there are entries written after marrying Ulaan and becoming Queen. And that fudging “advisor”—Pfft. That hideous man conspired to kill Ulaan. Wonder if Yuwa ever learned of his scheme or not, but it seems she had her suspicions, based on what she’s written in this entry._

Before she selects another one to read, she hears a buzz from her phone. Someone has texted her. _Quincey?_ But it’s a number that’s unfamiliar, and despite the fact she’s been ignoring anything from unlisted numbers lately, she decides to read it. 

She’s pleased to see its from Cordelia.

<<Unlisted Number>> @Poppy>> _hey Poppylan, it’s Cordelia! Just a reminder I’ll be in town this weekend and hope we are still on for din-din!_

Before she responds, she adds Cordelia as a new contact, so she can continue to screen her calls and texts.

Poppy @Cordelia>> _Hi there! Good to hear from you, and of course we are still on! And I have not said a word to Quincey—have you?_

Cordelia @Poppy>> _hahaha—not a word to Blondie. Anyways he and I have separate plans, so he won’t suffer a little separation. Where shall we go? Gudruns? Some place else?_

She doesn’t want to go back to Gudruns again, but she can’t really think of any place that isn’t Clan affiliated or reminds her of _him_. _I can’t win._

Poppy @Cordelia>> _Gudruns fine, C. What time?_

Cordelia @Poppy>> _👍🏽 7 OK?_

Poppy @Cordelia>> _Perfect. And I have to ask—will I get a ride on you bike this time? 😜🏍_

Cordelia @Poppy>> _You betcha, hon! I’ll def give u a ride… See you Saturday!_

Poppy @Cordelia>>YAY! Am Excited to 👀u!

Poppy closes the text exchange, and seeing that Quincey has not texted her back, she locks it, plugging it into its charger by her bed. She then shuts off her laptop, leaving it on her coffee table. While the diary entries are fascinating, she has to work tomorrow. She’s excited for Saturday, as she can’t wait to give Cordelia her portrait, although she’s not sure how Cordelia will take it home while driving a motorcycle.

_I guess that’s just semantics at this point._

Lying in bed, she tries to think of other portraits she might paint in the meantime, then she slowly drifts off to sleep. She doesn’t notice the unlisted number calling her yet again, ringing several times before it stops. 

**Author's Note:**

> More notes to appear in future chapters. Inspired by many, many other fanfics on AO3. I may make future edits, just for consistency sake and correct errors. Be sure to subscribe, and if you don’t already have an AO3 account, I’d highly recommend it—some of the best fanfic is by subscription only!


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